w as though she were content to suffer so long as
he held her. Presently she put her head back a little further, her
eyes meeting his.

"You are good, Dave," she whispered. "Good to me. I have not been
good to you, have I? Would you be a little sorry for me if I died?"

"Don't talk that way, Ernestine," he besought her. "You are not going
to die."

She put up one hand and pushed the hair back from his brow. He
flinched a little at the intimacy of the touch but she did not seem to
notice. She was smiling at him now, all hint of pain gone from her
eyes for the moment.

"If you had loved me," she said gently, "we both would have been happy.
Now I'll never be happy, Dave, and you'll never be happy. She won't
make you happy. She'll make a fool of you and then . . ."

Again she grew silent, her lids lowered. Drennen thought that she was
sinking into a quiet sleep. He did not stir as the moments slipped by.
A stick on the old hearth snapping and falling drew to it Ernestine's
eyes. Then they came again to Drennen. While she looked at him she
seemed not to be seeing him or thinking of him. She seemed, rather, to
be listening for some sound she expected to hear. Again she was very
still, the firelight finding an odd smile upon her face. She had wiped
much of the dust away and her pretty face, a little hard at most time,
was softened by the half light. After a little she sighed. Then,
swiftly, she slipped from Drennen's arms.

"I suppose you think I am a fool," she laughed strangely. "Well, I
know that you are, Dave Drennen! Now, go away, will you? Or do I have
to crawl away from here to get away from you? My God!" a sudden
passion again breaking through the ice of her tone, "I wish I had
killed you the other night. Before . . . _she_ came!"

No other word did Drennen draw from her. She sat as she had sat a
little while ago, her arms flung about her knees, her face hidden in
her arms. And so, at last, he left her.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE LAW AND A MAN'S DESIRE

Drennan slept two hours that night. He awoke rested, refreshed, eager.
He did not need sleep. He was Youth's own, tireless, stimulated with
the golden elixir.

Ygerne must not be before him at the trysting place; she must not wait
for him a short instant. It was his place to be there to welcome her.
She would come with the early dawn; he must come earlier than the dawn
itself.

When he came to the old fallen log the smile upon