hat, child," said Peter.

"You knew, didn't you, why it was I had stayed on at the mill? You knew
what it was that held me, and why I could never leave it?"

"Yes, I knew. It held you because it held me too. I wondered if you'd
tell me that."

"I longed to, but I couldn't. I've never been able to tell you things.
And I never shall."

"Oh, child, don't look so troubled. You've always told me things and
always will. Do you think it's with our tongues we tell each other
things? What can words ever tell? They only circle round the truth like
birds flying in the sun. The light bathes their flight, yet they are
millions of miles away from the light they fly in. We listen to each
other's words, but we watch each other's eyes."

"Some people half-shut their eyes, Peter."

"Some people, Helen, can't shut their eyes at all. Your eyes will never
stop telling me things. And the strangest thing about them is that
looking into them is like being able to see in the dark. They are
darkness, not light. And in darkness dreams are born. When I look into
your eyes I go into your dream."

"I shall never shut my eyes again," she whispered. "I will keep you in
my dream for ever."

"Women aren't all the same, Peter."

"Aren't they?"

"And yet--they are."

"Well, I give it up."

"Didn't you know?"

"No. I told you the truth that time. I've not had very much to do with
women."

"Then I've something to teach you, Peter."

"I don't know what you can prove," said Peter. "One woman by herself
can't prove a difference."

"Can't she?" said Helen; and laughed and cried at once.

"But why did you call me a nuisance?"

"You were one--you are one. You leave a man no peace--you're like the
sea. You're full of storms, aren't you?"

"Not only storms."

"I know. But the sea wouldn't be the sea without her storms. They're
one of her ways of holding us, too. And there are more storms in her
than ever break. I see them in you, big ones and little ones, brooding.
Then you're a--nuisance. You always will be, won't you?"

"Not to wreck you."

"You won't do that. Or if you do--I can survive shipwreck."

"I know."

"How do you know? I nearly gave up once, but the thought of you stopped
me. I wanted to come back--I'd always meant to. So I held on."

"I know."

"How do you know? I never told you, did I?"

"Oh, Peter, the things we have to tell each other. The times you
thought you were alone--the times I thought I was! You've