er, but it was in a kiss of renunciation, not of passion.

He held her in his arms a moment longer.

"Never forget I'm loving you--always," he said steadily. "Call me your
friend--but remember, in my heart I shall always be your lover."

Her eyes met his, unflinching, infinitely faithful.

"And I--I, too, shall be loving you," she answered, simply. "Always,
Garth--always."

CHAPTER XXXV

OUT OF THE NIGHT

Tim was home on sick leave, and, after two perfect weeks of reunion,
Elisabeth had written to ask if he might come down to Sunnyside,
suggesting that the sea-breezes might advance his convalescence.

"I wonder Mrs. Durward cares to spare him," commented Selwyn in some
surprise. "It seems out of keeping with her general attitude. However,
we shall be delighted to have him here. Write and say so, will you,
Sara?"

Sara acquiesced briefly, flushing a little. She thought she could
read the motive at the back of Elisabeth's proposal--the spirit which,
putting up a gallant fight even in the very face of defeat, could make
yet a final effort to secure success by throwing Tim and the woman
he loved together in the dangerously seductive intimacy of the same
household.

But Sara had no fear that Tim would avail himself of the opportunity
thus provided in the way Elisabeth doubtless hoped he might. That matter
had been finally settled between herself and him before he went to
France, and she knew that he would never again ask her to be his wife.
So she wrote to him serenely, telling him to come down to Monkshaven as
soon as he liked; and a few days later found him installed at Sunnyside,
nominally under Dr. Selwyn's care.

He was the same unaffected, spontaneous Tim as of yore, and hugely
embarrassed by any reference to his winning of the Military Cross,
firmly refusing to discuss the manner of it, even with Sara.

"I just got on with my job--like dozens of other fellows," was all he
would say.

It was from a brother officer that Sara learned, later, than Tim had
"got on with his job" under a hellish enemy fire, in spite of being
twice wounded; and had thus saved the immediate situation in his
vicinity--and, incidentally, the lives of many of his comrades.

He seemed to Sara to have become at once both older and younger than in
former days. He had all the hilarious good spirits evinced by nine out
of ten of the boys who came home on leave--the cheery capacity to laugh
at the hardships and dangers of the fron