tell me that you are glad to see
me?"

There was no resentment in her voice or attitude that he had shunned
her. She stood easily, the train to her dress sweeping over the soft
carpet to one side as she had turned. The laces on her breast were
creamy and feathery, and her girdle was a zone of gold.

Again he waited till his voice was steady, and again he answered, "No!"

"Won't you but touch my hand if I ask you to?--for the sake of Jericho!"

Her supplicating words brought madness, but the man withstood. He knew,
through all the blinding wrack of emotions which tossed in his brain,
that in distance alone was safety. Should he feel but her finger tips,
he was damned. With that six or eight feet of floor space between them
he was master of himself. For the third time he answered "No!"

She had been unprepared for this reserve, this fearful coldness. The
last time they were together--the last time!--and he had left without a
word of farewell to her, without telling her that he was going away. But
she knew why he had gone. She was older than he, and had seen more of
life. But the element of mercy in her soul was wofully deficient in
magnitude. She made no further attempt at once after his third refusal,
but stood with head slightly bent, and eyes downcast.

"You were not very just to me."

Her words came in silken soft purrs from her warm lips--and Glenning
prayed!

"You treated me badly to go, with never a word, never a written message.
I should not have done the same with you John! I have missed you sorely,
but my pride has held me back from trying to communicate with you in any
way. I have come for the first two days of the fair; I cannot stay
longer. The people in this house are distant relatives. I did not know
that I would see you, except, possibly, upon the street, and then I knew
that you would not recognize me. I was present when they sent a message
for you tonight, and I planned this meeting. I wanted to see you again,
for a little while. I think you might sit down and talk with me for a
moment. It can't be for long, for the hour is late, you know."

The quality of her voice was as of one who had been mistreated. There
were short breaks in it; suppressions of emotion, and her head had bent
towards the light, while the burnished disc of her coiled hair was as a
spider's woven mesh.

"I came away because it was better for us both that I should come, and
you know a farewell was out of the question. I do