cheeks, the holly bushes whispered their secrets--which were her secrets
as well, the eyes of the stars looked down, smiling into her eyes. She
observed no face in the thronging faces that passed her; she made her
steadfast way to the one point in the universe that was her goal by
right divine. Even in the hallway of Blake's house she did not stop to
question, but mounted the stairs and knocked upon his door, regardless
of the stormy beating of her heart, the faintness of anticipation that
encompassed her.

A moment passed--a moment or a century; then he was before her,
appealing to the innermost recesses of her being.

He stared at her, as one might stare upon a ghost.

"Maxine!"

Her lips parted, trembling with a pleading tenderness.

"Maxine!" he said again; and now his voice shook, as hers had shaken in
Max's little starlit studio.

It was the cry she had waited for--the confirmation of her faith. Her
hands went out to him; her soul suddenly poured forth allegiance in look
and voice.

"Ned! Ned! Take me! Take me and teach me! Take me away to your castle,
like the princess of old. Show me the white sky and the opal sea, and
the seaweed that smells like violets!"

His hands clasped hers, his incredulous eyes besought her. "Maxine, this
is some dream?"

"No; it is no dream. We are awake. It is life!"

THE END

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