they were now
touching so closely filled their hearts and eyes, and left them
faint. So they stood for hours or for seconds, they could not
tell, spirit-hushed, ecstatic. The girl realized that they must
part.

"You must go," she whispered brokenly, at last. "I do not want you
to, but you must."

She smiled up at him with trembling lips that whispered to her soul
that she must be brave.

"Now go," she nerved herself to say, releasing her hands.

"Tell me," he commanded.

"What?" she asked.

"What I most want to hear."

"I can tell you many things," said she, soberly, "but I do not know
which of them you want to hear. Ah, Ned. I can tell you that you
have come into a girl's life to make her very happy and very much
afraid. And that is a solemn thing; is it not?"

"Yes," said he.

"And I can tell you that this can never be undone. That is a
solemn thing, too, is it not?"

"Yes," said he.

"And that, according as you treat her, this girl will believe or
not believe in the goodness of all men or the badness of all men.
Ah, Ned, a woman's heart is fragile, and mine is in your keeping."

Her face was raised bravely and steadily to his. In the starlight
it shone white and pathetic. And her eyes were two liquid wells of
darkness in the shadow, and her half-parted lips were wistful and
childlike.

The man caught both her hands, again looking down on her. Then he
answered her, solemnly and humbly.

"Virginia," said he, "I am setting out on a perilous Journey. As I
deal with you, may God deal with me."

"Ah, that is as I like you," she breathed.

"Good-by," said he.

She raised her lips of her own accord, and he kissed them
reverently.

"Good-by," she murmured.

He turned away with an effort and ran down the beach to the canoe.

"Good-by, good-by," she murmured, under her breath. "Ah, good-by!
I love you! Oh, I do love you!"

Then suddenly from the bushes leaped dark figures. The still night
was broken by the sound of a violent scuffle--blows--a fall. She
heard Ned Trent's voice calling to her from the _melee_.

"Go back at once!" he commanded, clearly and steadily. "You can do
no good. I order you to go home before they search the woods."

But she crouched in dazed terror, her pupils wide to the dim light.
She saw them bind him, and stand waiting; she saw a canoe glide out
of the darkness; she saw the occupants of the canoe disembark; she
saw them exhibit her little rifle, and he