d his voice, which was as though disembodied, and jarring a bit with
its resonance, brought her back to the present.

"It's a hard thing to do and I've come to think it takes sometimes a
lifetime, but--it can be done." He had turned and she could feel his
warm breath in her ear. There was a note of assurance in his words
and, as she watched, a change came over the scene before her and it
all seemed like a huge graying blanket punched full of tiny, bright
flat holes. Something had receded, escaped back into the darkness
behind it all.

She made no reply.

"I wanted to tell you and it's about as good a time as any. You may be
needing some help. It's not all so easy down there. And--well, if you
need any help--make the way any easier for you--why, don't hesitate to
call on me."

"That's good of you," she replied, and wondered at the lack of warmth
in her own voice. "Perhaps I shall." But she could not help feeling
that in some way she had seen what she had seen--alone.

They sat a little longer in silence, and then Mary Louise straightened
in her seat and called to him briskly:

"We _must_ be going. Why, it must be eight o'clock. What have I been
thinking of?"

"That's what I'd like to know," he laughed.

"Come, take me home, man. Maida will think--all sorts of things."

"You don't have to answer to her, do you?"

"No. But let's go."

He stooped over and switched on the lights and immediately two long,
ghostly streamers went searching out across the wall and rested
lightly in the tops of some ragged trees on the slopes, bringing them
grotesquely into focus, while myriads of tiny motes danced down the
twin circular paths off into space. Directly there was a roar of the
engine, with an occasional sputtering cough--for the night air was
cool--and then Claybrook's voice again:

"There really isn't any great hurry. We can stop at the Gardens at the
foot of the hill and get a bite to eat."

"No, not to-night. Thank you ever so much."

"But why not? We needn't hurry then. It's a pretty good place." He
seemed insistent, waiting, stooped there over the steering wheel.

"No," she said again. "I must get home. Maida will be waiting for me
and I've some work to do. And besides, I don't want to go anywhere
looking like this. I'm a fright, I know."

He muttered something to himself as he threw the car into gear, and
they went whirling around the circle of the road in reckless disregard
for the menace of the rock wal