ce loved her,
because she had never seemed to realize the lasting quality of his love.
She had always felt that he would forget her. If he could only make her
believe that he would not, it would not be so hopeless.

He had written a bit of a love letter on the little table at Dunkirk
that morning, written it with the hope that the sight of the written
words might carry conviction where all his protests had failed.

"I shall love you all the years of my life," he wrote. "At any time, in
any place, you may come to me and know that I am waiting. Great love
like this comes only once to any man, and once come to him it never goes
away. At any time in the years to come you may know with certainty that
you are still to me what you are now, the love of my life.

"Sometimes I think, dearest--I may call you that once, now that you
have left me--that far away you will hear this call of mine and come
back to me. Perhaps you will never come. Perhaps I shall not live. I
feel to-day that I do not care greatly to live.

"If that is to be, then think of me somewhere, perhaps with Rene by my
side, since he, too, loved you. And I shall still be calling you, and
waiting. Perhaps even beyond the stars they have need of a little house
of mercy; and, God knows, wherever I am I shall have need of you."

He had the letter in the pocket of his tunic, and at last the moment
came when the boat must leave. Suddenly Henri knew that he could not
allow her to cross to England alone. The last few days had brought many
stories of submarine attacks. Here, so far north, the Germans were
particularly active. They had for a long time lurked in waiting for
this British Admiralty boat, with its valuable cargo, its officers and
the government officials who used it.

"Good-by, Henri," said Sara Lee. "I--of course it is no use to try to
tell you--"

"I am going across with you."

"But--"

"I allowed you to come over alone. I shiver when I think of it. I shall
take you back myself."

"Is it very dangerous?"

"Probably not. But can you think of me standing safe on that quay and
letting you go into danger alone?"

"I am not afraid."

"I know that. I have never seen you afraid. But if you wish to see a
coward, look at me. I am a coward for you."

He put his hand into his pocket. It occurred to him to give her the
letter now so that if anything happened she would at least have had it.
He wanted no mistake about that appointment beyond the stars. But