ubstantial....

And suddenly a rush of memory wafted him from the moonlit hillside to
the drawing-room at Home. It was his mother he held against his
breast:--the silken draperies, the clinging arms, the yielding softness,
the unyielding courage at the core....

So vivid, so poignant was the lightning gleam of illusion, that when it
passed he felt dizzy, as if his body had been swept in the wake of his
spirit, a thousand leagues and back: dizzy, yet, in some mysterious
fashion, reinforced--assured....

He knew now that his defences would hold....

And Aruna, utterly at rest in his arms, knew it also. He loved her--oh
yes, truly--as much as he said and more; but instinct told her there
lacked ... just something; something that would have set him--and
her--on fire, and perhaps have made renunciation unthinkable. Her acute,
instinctive sense of it, hurt like the edge of a knife pressed on her
heart; yet just enabled her to bear the unbearable. Had it been
..._that_ way, to lose him were utter loss. This way--there would be no
losing. What she had now, she would keep--whether his bodily presence
were with her or no----

Next minute, she dropped from the heights. Fire ran in her veins. His
lips were on her forehead.

"The seal of betrothal," he whispered. "My brave Aruna----"

Without a word she put up her face like a child; but it was very woman
who yielded her lips to his....

For her, in that supreme moment, the years that were past and the years
that were to come seemed gathered into a burnt-offering--laid on his
shrine. For her, that long kiss held much of passion--confessed yet
transcended; more of sacredness, inexpressible, because it would never
come again--with him or any other man. She vowed it silently to her own
heart....

Again far up the hillside a jackal laughed; another and another--as if
in derision. She shivered; and he loosed his hold, still keeping an arm
round her. To-night they were betrothed. He owed her all he had the
right to give.

"Your cloak. You'll catch your death...." He stopped short--and flung up
his head. "What was that? There--again--in those trees----"

"Some monkey perhaps," she whispered, startled by his look and tone.

"Hush--listen!" His grip tightened and they stood rigidly still, Roy
straining every nerve to locate those stealthy sounds. They were almost
under the arch; strong mellow light on one side, nethermost darkness on
the other. And from all sides the large unhe