n the big, drooping hat, with the
light behind her weaving a gold halo round her hair and the slim white
figure, as she talked of Saidee in the golden silence. When she looked
up at him, he thought that she was like a girl-saint, painted on a
background of gold. He felt very tender over her, very much older than
she, and it did not occur to him that he might fall in love with this
young creature who had no thought for anything in life except the
finding of her sister.

A tiny streak of lily-pollen had made a little yellow stain on the white
satin of her cheek, and under her blue eyes were a few faint freckles,
golden as the lily-pollen. He had seen them come yesterday, on the ship,
in a bright glare of sunlight, and they were not quite gone yet. He had
a foolish wish to touch them with his finger, to see if they would rub
off, and to brush away the lily-pollen, though it made her skin look
pure as pearl.

"You are an inspiration!" was all he said.

"I? But how do you mean?" she asked.

He hardly knew that he had spoken aloud; yet challenged, he tried to
explain. "Inspiration to new life and faith in things," he answered
almost at random. But hearing the words pronounced by his own voice,
made him realize that they were true. This child, of whose existence he
had not known a week ago, could give him--perhaps was already giving
him--new faith and new interests. He felt thankful for her, somehow,
though she did not belong to him, and never would--unless a gleam of
sunshine can belong to one on whom it shines. And he would always
associate her with the golden sunshine and the magic charm of Algeria.

"I told you I'd given you half my star," she said, laughing and blushing
a little.

"Which star is it?" he wanted to know. "When I don't see you any more, I
can look up and hitch my thought-wagon to Mars or Venus."

"Oh, it's even grander than any planet you can see, with your real eyes.
But you can look at the evening star if you like. It's so thrilling in
the sunset sky, I sometimes call it my star."

"All right," said Stephen, with his elder-brother air. "And when I look
I'll think of you."

"You can think of me as being with Saidee at last."

"You have the strongest presentiment that you'll find her without
difficulty."

"When _I_ say 'presentiment,' I mean creating a thing I want, making a
picture of it happening, so it _has_ to happen by and by, as God made
pictures of this world, and all the worlds, and the