lorious patterns of light through the forest. Little
voices of the night which he had not heard until now began to thrill
and quiver under the soft light. It was as though the North Woods were
filled with a secret, pigmy people who were moon worshippers; as though
now they greeted their goddess with an elfin chant of praise.

A strange sadness fastened itself upon the man. The beauty of the
night touched him deeply. It brought with its stillness an
unaccustomed emotion of melancholy. He was suddenly lonely. The night
was rarely perfect and yet it wanted something. It was complete yet it
was empty. The moonrise, the golden glory of stars set against the
soft bosom of the sky, brought a sense of lack of something. It
touched the soul and yet did not satisfy. It awoke a sort of soul
thirst and hunger in him. Upon him was the old yearning, the yearning
of the man for his mate, that longing experienced never so poignantly
as in a spot like this where a man is alone with the woodland.

Dimly conscious of many emotions mingled and confused, David Drennen
was keenly awake to the sweeping alteration which a few days had
effected in him. Not that he fully understood that which he
recognised. He was inclined to look upon himself as a different man;
like many a man before him whom love or hate, a great joy or a great
disaster, had appeared to make over, he was but experiencing the
sensation resultant from the emancipation of a certain portion of his
being which had existed always until now in a state of bondage, silent
and hidden.

He stood a long time, very still. So motionless that when the moon had
driven the shadows back and found him out he looked a brother to the
inanimate objects about him. But when at last he moved, while slowly,
it was without hesitation. He was going to Ygerne.

Marquette's store was closed, the doors locked. There was a light from
Ygerne's window, another light from a second window, Madden's room.
Drennen passed about the house and came to the door of the living room.
There was no light shining under the door, but he knocked. In a little
Mere Jeanne, a wrap thrown about her, came in answer.

"May I see Miss Bellaire?" he said simply. "Will you tell her that it
is important?"

Mere Jeanne looked at him shrewdly, with little hesitation made up her
mind that he came as a lover, left him at the door and went to the
girl. A moment later Ygerne entered the little living room. Drennen