ngue it required all his self-control to
remember his oath. He turned away with a groan.

"Good-night, Corinna."

CHAPTER VIII

EVAN IS RE-ENGAGED

He dreamed of her all night--but not as a sister it is to be feared.
In his dream she was running through the springtime woods with the
glorious hair flying, and he was running after her, an endless race
without his ever drawing nearer, while the sun shone and the little
young leaves twinkled as if in laughter.

He was awake at six and sprang out of bed to see what kind of day it
was. The sun was already high over the tops of the buildings to the
east, the sky was fleckless, and the empty Park was beaming. His
anxiety was relieved. He dressed as slowly as possible in order to
kill time, taking care to make no sound that might awaken Charley in
the next room.

He was not prepared to make explanations just then.

Notwithstanding all his care he was ready a whole hour too soon, an
hour that promised to be endless, for he was completely at a loss what
to do with himself; couldn't apply his mind to anything; couldn't sit
still. Finally he stole down-stairs, sending his love silently through
her door as he passed, and started circumnavigating the Park.

He was subconsciously aware of the splendour of the morning, but saw
little of what actually met his eyes. He was too busy with the
happenings of the night before. A nasty little doubt tormented him.
He knew he was slightly insane; it was not that; he gloried in his
state and pitied the dull clods who had not fire in their breasts to
drive them mad. But here was the rub; would not these same clods have
laughed at him had they known of the oath he had taken--would not he
have laughed himself yesterday?

It was carried on inside him like an argument; on the one hand the
enamoured young man who insisted that the relationship between brother
and sister was a holy and beautiful one, on the other hand the
matter-of-fact one who said it was all damn nonsense; that a man and
woman, free, unattached and not bound by the ties of consanguinity were
not intended to be brother and sister. Such arguments have no end.
The thought of Charley troubled him most; he had always taken a
slightly superior attitude towards Charley's sentimentality. What a
chance for Charley to get back at him if he learned of this!

At five minutes to eight, having looked at his watch fifty times or so,
he ventured back into the house, and ta