ow does that
appeal to you?" He leaned forward and watched them. "I have an
excellent plan. One of you shall work until the end of his life in
this mine, as beautiful captives in the past quarter century have
slaved and died; the other shall labor until the end of life in my
quarries, not more than one hundred miles from Len Yang.

"Then you will not speak of death. You will struggle and you will grow
old long before your time, as the others have done, hoping that vain
hope of again meeting. And I shall grant your wish! Years from now,
when youth and the divine passion of youth have flown--when only the
bitter dregs of that rapturous love remain--then you shall be
reunited." He cackled humorously in his treble.

"O Buddha! How long have I waited for such an opportunity? How long?
How long? Is it twenty years--or forty--or a thousand--since that
night in the bazaar at Mangalore?" His green eyes rolled to the green
ceiling. And his mood underwent another vast change, this creature of
monster moods.

"Are you grateful to me, you two? You should be! It was I who brought
you together--I, the cruelest man in all Asia! It must have been a
divine night, that night on the great river, Peter Moore, when she came
into your arms. Love blazed in your hearts that night; and this
gray-eyed witch said, with downcast eyes: 'I like you, Peter Moore!'
What difference what she said? Any words would have dripped as much
with love!"

He sprang to his feet, groaning, his evil countenance undergoing
convulsions, as of terrific inner spasms.

"You shall not have that!" he shouted. "You shall not have love! What
I have done, I shall undo! You shall live apart. Love has been
refused me; love is refused all who come within my reach! That is my
decision. Nor shall you have death. One of you to the quarry--the
other to the mines. I shall be generous. You may make your choice.
And _that_ is my decision!"

The lovers stared at him. The vicious plan had gripped Peter's
imagination. Gone was all thought of the pistol, which lay even now in
the palm of his hand. One shot would have silenced the beast forever;
but he had forgotten such things as bullets and pistols.

He could realize only that, even before their first kiss had been
exchanged, they would be torn apart.

The color had receded from Peter's skin and eyes; he looked very much
nearer forty than thirty. And Eileen was reflecting that despairing
attitude.