ed? I had not."

I had slipped to my knees again and rested with my forehead on her
hand. I could feel her other hand stray toward me.

"No," she whispered. "No, I had not forgotten, but the dark and a
sudden loneliness made me a coward. Thank you. It is over now and I
will sleep. Monsieur, my partner, I will say good-night, and this time
I will not call you."

But I rested a moment longer on my knees with my head against her palm.
Then I rose.

"Partners, perhaps," I said softly. "Yet more than that. Madame, are
we not like pilgrims groping our way together on a dark road? We
cannot see far ahead, but there is a light in the distance. I think
that we shall reach it. Good-night. We shall both sleep now, madame."

But she slept and I did not. It was nearly day when I closed my eyes
again, yet I did not find the moments long.

The next morning was quiet and the sky clear. I had read my maps
rightly, and once embarked, an hour of paddling brought us to Sturgeon
Cove. It opened before us suddenly, a wedge of flecked turquoise laid
across the shaded greens of the peninsula. As we entered it a flock of
white gulls rose from the rocky shore and flew before us. The air,
rain washed, was so limpid that it seemed a marvel that it could
sustain the heavy-pinioned birds, but they moved in sure curves and
seemed to bear us with them. I pointed the woman's glance toward them.

"An omen. We shall follow them and rest here. It is our home."

We nosed our way, with leisurely paddles, close to the northern shore.
The land sloped gently from the beach, and the quivering water, a faded
green from the tree shadows, crawled over gravel that was patterned
with the white of quartz and with the pomegranate of carnelian. It was
a jeweled pavement, and it led to forest aisles where cathedral lights
splashed through the trees. But I would not stop. The gulls were
still leading.

The bay narrowed, and the shores pressed close to us, with compact
ranks of cedars held spearwise. Yet we pushed on, and the water path
spread out once more, a final widening. We saw before us the rounded
end of the bay, and the neck of land that formed the Sturgeon portage.
The woman looked at me.

"What now, monsieur?"

But I smiled at her with my conceit untroubled. I had seen reeds close
to the northern shore. "Halt!" I cried to the canoes.

We lay quiet a moment, and the birds glancing back at us found us
suddenly harmless. T