e this," Bella
went on. "I feel that without the confidence I've tried to describe
marriage must be a terrible risk--one might find such ugly qualities in
the man; even defects you could forgive beforehand would become so much
worse when you had to suffer because of them. Of course, one can't expect
perfection, but there ought to be something--honor, a good heart, a
generous mind--that one can rely on as a sure foundation. When you have
that, you can build, and even then the building may be difficult." She
paused before she concluded: "My dear, I'm happier than I deserve to be;
I have chosen wisely."

Nothing more was said for a few minutes, but Bella, studying her
companion's face, was more or less content. Millicent's faith in Clarence
was weak, she was forcing herself to believe in him; it might be possible
to make her see her lover in his true character, though Bella had not yet
determined on the exact course she would adopt. Then Carew called from the
camp and she went back, while Millicent sat still with grave doubts in her
heart. Bella's faith in her husband was warranted, and Millicent was
enough of an optimist to believe that such men were not uncommon--there
was Lisle, for example, and Nasmyth. With them one would undoubtedly have
something to build a happy and profitable life upon--but what could be
done with one in whom there was no foundation, only the shifting sands of
impulses, or, perhaps, unsounded depths of weakness into which the
painfully-raised edifice might crumble? She stove to convince herself that
she was becoming wickedly hypercritical, thinking treasonably of her
lover, particularly in contrasting him with her guide. There must be no
more of that, and she rose and walked back to her tent with a resolution
that cost her an effort.

In the meanwhile Lisle and Nasmyth were pushing on as fast as possible
along the stony summit of the ridge. There was moonlight, which made it a
little easier, but they stumbled every now and then. Here and there they
were forced to scramble down the sides of a gully and on reaching the
bottom to plunge into water, and once they had to scramble some distance
shut in by the rocks before they could find a means of ascending. Still,
they were hard and inured to fatigue, and they never slackened the pace.
When striding along a stretch of smoother ground Nasmyth gathered breath
to speak.

"We were easily taken in," he declared; "though the thing was cunningly
planned.