ontrol with a great effort, summoning that
high courage of hers which had never before failed her.

She smiled straight up at him, a splendid, resolute smile. "You
shall have--the kiss of peace," she said.

His expression changed. For a moment his hold became a grip that
hurt her--bruised her. She closed her eyes with an involuntary
catch of the breath, waiting, expecting she knew not what. Then,
very suddenly, the strain was over. He set her free and turned
from her.

"Thank you." he said, in a voice that sounded oddly strangled.
"But I don't find that--especially satisfying--just now."

His hands were clenched as he left her. She did not dare to follow
him or call him back.

PART III

CHAPTER I

THE NEW ERA

Looking back later, it almost seemed to Sylvia that the days that
followed were as an interval between two acts in the play of life.
It was a time of transition, though what was happening within her
she scarcely realized.

One thing only did she fully recognize, and that was that the old
frank comradeship between herself and Burke had come to an end.
During all the anxiety of those days and the many fluctuations
through which Guy passed, Burke came and went as an outsider,
scarcely seeming to be interested in what passed, never
interfering. He never spoke to Kieff unless circumstances
compelled him, and with Sylvia herself he was so reticent as to be
almost forbidding. Her mind was too full of Guy, too completely
occupied with the great struggle for his life, to allow her
thoughts to dwell very much upon any other subject. She saw that
Burke's physical wants were attended to, and that was all that she
had time for just then. He was sleeping in the spare hut which she
had prepared for Guy with such tender care, and she was quite
satisfied as to his comfort there. It came to be something of a
relief when every evening he betook himself thither. Though she
never actually admitted it to herself, she was always more at ease
when he was out of the bungalow.

She and Kieff were fighting inch by inch to save Guy, and she could
not endure any distractions while the struggle lasted. For it was
a desperate fight, and there was little rest for either of them.
Her first sensation of repugnance for this man had turned into a
species of unwilling admiration, His adroitness, his resource, the
almost uncanny power of his personality, compelled her to a curious
allegiance. She gave him implicit o