e, his face working. "I MUST go, child. It's the thing to do. I
wish to Heaven it weren't. You must think of yourself as quite safe
here. You ARE safe. Don't make it hard for me to go, dear."

"I AM a coward. But I can't help it. There is so much snow--and the
mountains are so big." She tried valiantly to crush down her sobs. "But
go. I'll--I'll not be afraid."

He buried her little hands in his two big ones and looked deep into her
eyes. "Every minute of the time I am away from you I shall be with you
in spirit. You'll not be alone any minute of the day or night. Whether
you are awake or asleep I shall be with you."

"I'll try to remember that," she answered, smiling up at him but with a
trembling lip.

She put him up some lunch while he made his simple preparations. To the
end of the trench she walked with him, neither of them saying a word.
The moment of parting had come.

She looked up at him with a crooked wavering little smile. She wanted
to be brave, but she could not trust herself to say a word.

"Remember, dear. I am not leaving you. My body has gone on an errand.
That is all."

Just now she found small comfort in this sophistry, but she did not
tell him so.

"I--I'll remember." She gulped down a sob and still smiled through the
mist that filmed her sight.

In his face she could see how much he was moved at her distress. Always
a creature of impulse, one mastered her now, the need to let her
weakness rest on his strength. Her arms slipped quickly round his neck
and her head lay buried on his shoulder. He held her tight, eyes
shining, the desire of her held in leash behind set teeth, the while
sobs shook her soft round body in gusts.

"My lamb--my sweet precious lamb," she heard him murmur in anguish.

From some deep sex trait it comforted her that he suffered. With the
mother instinct she began to regain control of herself that she might
help him.

"It will not be for long," she assured him. "And every step of your way
I shall pray for, your safety," she whispered.

He held her at arm's length while his gaze devoured her, then silently
he wheeled away and plunged waist deep into the drifts. As long as he
was in sight he saw her standing there, waving her handkerchief to him
in encouragement. Her slight, dark figure, outlined against the snow,
was the last thing his eyes fell upon before he turned a corner of the
gulch and dropped downward toward the plains.

But when he was surely gone, after