catos.

They stood in the deep porch looking out at it, while the sun showered
them with warmth.

"You 've seen Ben?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, turning her face up to his with momentary
brightness. "Yes. And he was like this out here! The change is
wonderful! It is as though he had risen from the dead!"

Donaldson lifted his head toward the stark blue of the sky.

"The dead? There are no dead," he exclaimed passionately. "Even those
we bury are ever ready to open their silent lips to us if only we give
them life again. We owe it to them to do that, through our own lives
to continue as best we can their lives here on earth. But we can't do
that as long as we have them dead, can we? And that is true of dead
hopes, of dead loves. We have to face the sun with all those things
and through it breathe into them a new spirit. Do you see, Miss
Arsdale?"

He did not look at her, but as her voice answered him it seemed to be
stronger.

"I think--I think I do."

"Nothing can die, unless we let it die," he ran on, paving the way for
what he realized she must in the end know. "Some of it can disappear
from our sight. But not much. We can bury our dead, but we need n't
bury their glad smiles, we need n't bury the feel of their hands or the
brush of their lips, we need n't bury their songs or the brave spirit
of them. We can keep all that, the living part of them, so long as our
own spirit lives. It is when that dies in us that we truly bury them.
And this is even truer of our loves--intangible spirit things as they
are at best."

He did not wish that part of him to die utterly in her with his doomed
frame.

"But--" she shivered, "all this talk of graves and the dead?"

"It is all of the sun and the living," he replied earnestly. "You must
face the sun with me to-day. Will you?"

"Yes! Yes! But last night you made me afraid. Was it the dark,--did
you get afraid of the dark? I know what that means."

"Perhaps," he answered gently. "But if so, it was because I was
foolish enough to let it be dark. And you yourself must never do it
again. If things get bad at night you must wait until morning and then
come out here. So, if you remember what I have said, it will get light
again. Will you promise to do that?"

"Yes."

"I 'd like to make this day one that we 'll both remember forever. I
'd like to make it one that we can always turn back to."

"Yes."

"Perhaps after to-day we 'll neit