so much nearer the Divine purpose than did the lives of his
neighbours--the purpose of Nature, whose end is the happiness that
conforms to sane and immutable laws. His kiss on Eugenia's lips was to
him God-given; the answer in her eyes had flamed a Scriptural
inspiration. In the tumultuous leaping of his thoughts it seemed to him
that the meaning of existence lay unrolled--a meaning obscured in all
religions, overlooked in all philosophies--a meaning that could be read
only by the lamp that was lit in the eyes that loved.

So in his ignorance and his ecstasy he went on his confident way, while
passion throbbed in his pulses and youth quickened in his brain.

From the far-off pines twilight came to meet him, the lights glimmered
clearer in distant windows, the afterglow drifted from the west, and the
shots ceased where the black bats circled above the road.

V

Eugenia arranged the goldenrod in the great blue vases and sat in the
deserted dining-room thinking of Nicholas. Where the damask curtains
were drawn back from the windows a gray line of twilight landscape was
visible, and a chill, transparent dusk filled the large room. Outside
she would see the box-walk, a stretch of lawn, broken by flower-beds,
and the avenue of cedars leading to the highway. From the porch floated
the smoke of the general's pipe.

Her brow was on her hand and she sat so motionless that the place seemed
deserted, save for an errant firefly that vainly palpitated in the
gloom. The glow that had flamed beneath Nicholas's kiss still lingered
in her face, and she was conscious of a faint, almost hysterical impulse
to weep. The fever in her veins had given place to a still tremor which
ran through her limbs. At first she felt rather than thought. She lapsed
into an emotional reverie as delicate as the fragrance of the October
roses on the table. There was a sensation of softness as when one lies
full length in sunshine or is caressed by firelight. She felt it pervade
her body even to the palms of her hands. Then her quick mind stirred,
and she recalled the pressure of his arms, the light in his eyes, the
quiver of his lips as they touched her hands. His strength had dominated
her and it still held her--the firm note in the voice that trembled,
the power in the hand that appealed, the almost savage vigour in the
arms that he folded on his breast. She had succumbed less to his
gentleness than to the knowledge that it was she alone who evok