n help it. We must go separate ways, Nan."

She tried to speak, but her lips moved soundlessly. Only her eyes,
meeting his, held a mute agony that tortured him. All at once his
self-control gave way, and the passion of love and longing against
which he had been fighting swept aside the barriers which circumstance
had placed about it. His arms went round her, holding her close while
he rained kisses on her throat and lips and eyes--fierce, desperate
kisses that burned against her face. And Nan kissed him back, yielding
up her soul upon her lips, knowing that after this last passionate
farewell there could he no more giving or receiving. Only a forgetting.

. . . At last they drew apart from one another, though Peter's arms
still held her, but only tenderly as for the last time.

"This is good-bye, dearest of all," he said presently.

"Yes," she answered gravely. "I know."

"Heart's beloved, try not to be too sad," he went on. "Try to find
happiness in other things. We can never be together--never be more
than friends, but I shall be your lover always--always, Nan--through
this world into the next."

Her hand stole into his.

"As I yours, Peter."

It was as though some solemn pledge had passed between them--a
spiritual troth which nothing in this world could either touch or
tarnish. Neither Peter's marriage nor the rash promise Nan had given
to Roger could impinge on it. It would carry them through the complex
disarray of this world to the edge of the world beyond.

Some time passed before either of them spoke again. Then Peter said
quite simply:

"We must go home, dear."

She nodded, and together, hand in hand, they descended from the old
castle which must have witnessed so many loves and griefs and partings
in King Arthur's time, keeping them secret in its bosom as it would
keep secret this later farewell.

They were very silent on the way back. Just at the end, before they
turned the corner where the car awaited them, Peter spoke to her again,
taking both her hands in his for the last time and holding them in a
firm, steady clasp.

"Don't forget, Nan, what we said just now. We can each remember
that--our troth. Hang on to it--_hard_, when life seems a bit more
uphill than usual."

CHAPTER XVII

"THE KEYS OF HEAVEN"

Nan awoke the next morning to find the sunlight pouring into her room.
Outside, the notes of a bird's song lilted very sweetly on the air, while
the creamy head o