'" quoted Laurence, a
bitter ring in his tone. "Probably the latter."

"You must not say that. Remember what I told you, more than once before.
I am always hopeful, I never despair, even when things look
blackest--either for myself or other people. Though, I dare say, you are
laughing to yourself now at the idea of things being anything but bright
to me. Well, then, I predict you will come back with what you want. You
will return rich, and all will look up then for you."

She spoke lightly, smilingly. He, listening, gazing at her, felt bitter.
He had been mistaken. Well, he had found out his mistake, only just in
time--only just. But even he, with all his observant perceptiveness, had
failed to penetrate Lilith's magnificent self-command.

"Let us hope your prediction will prove a true one," he said, falling in
with her supposed mood. "The one thing to make life worth living is
wealth. I will stick at nothing to obtain it--nothing! Without it, life
is a hell; with it--well, life is at one's feet. There is nothing one
cannot do with it--nothing."

His eyes glowed with a sombre light. There was a world of repressed
passion in his tone, the resentful snarl, as he thought of the past
squalor and bitterness of life, mingling with the savage determination
and unscrupulous recklessness of the born adventurer.

"There is one thing you cannot obtain for it," she said. "That
is--love."

"But it can bring you all that will cause you to feel no longing for
that deceptive illusion. You can forget that such a thing exists--can
forget it in the renewed exuberance of vitality which is sheer enjoyment
of living. Well, wish me luck. 'Good-bye' is a dreadful word, but it has
to be said."

He had risen and stood blindly, half-bewilderedly. The shaded room, the
sensuous fragrance of her presence, every graceful movement, the
fascination of the wide, earnest eyes, all was more than beginning to
intoxicate him, to shatter his chain-armour of bitterness and
self-control. He, the strong, the invulnerable, the man in whom all
heart and feeling was dead--what sorcery was this? He was bewitched,
entranced, enthralled. His strength was as water. Yet not.

They stood facing each other, glance fused into glance. At that moment
heart seemed opened to heart--to be gazing therein.

"Good-bye," he said. "Don't quite forget me, Lilith dear. Think a little
now and then of the times we have had together." Then their lips met in
a long kiss. And s