lence and dim dusk
without, dim dusk and silence within.

Once Howard, the lighter spirited of the two, sought to laugh the
constraint away.

'Something seems to have come over us, John,' he said. But as he spoke
he knew that what he should have said was that something had come
between them. Further, he knew that Carr would have amended his words
thus in his own mind and that that was why he did not reply. He
recalled vividly how they three had stood on the cliff, he on Helen's
left, John on her right. He and John were friends; in the desert lands
friendship is sacred. Further, it is mighty, stalwart, godly, and all
but indomitable. They had shared together, fought together. One
friend would do to the uttermost for the other, would die for him. He
would rush into the other's fight, asking no questions, and if he went
down the chill of coming death would be warmed by the glow of conscious
sacrifice. The friendship of Howard and Carr had stood the many tests
of time. But only now had the supreme test come. Until to-day, either
of them in the generousness of his spirit would have stepped gladly
aside for the other. But now? A girl is not a cup of water that one
man, dying of thirst, may say of her to his friend: 'Take her.' Their
friendship was not changed; simply it was no longer the greatest thing
in life. The love of a man for a man, though it be strengthened by ten
thousand ties, is less than the love of a man for his chosen mate,
though to the other eyes and minds that love may be inexplicable. Set
any Damon and Pythias upon an isolated desert island, then into their
lives bring the soft eyes of a girl, and inevitably the day will dawn
when those eyes will look upon the death of a friendship. This
knowledge had at last become a part of the understandings of Alan
Howard and John Carr.

'You are going East, John?' asked Howard when at length his spirit
sought a second time to shake off the oppression of the hour.

Even these words came with something of an effort. He tried to speak
naturally. But behind his words were troops of confused thoughts; Carr
was going East, and had said nothing to him; if Carr left, what then of
Helen? Carr had tried to persuade the Longstreets to go with him.

And to Carr the query sounded more careless, more lightly casual than
Howard had intended. His own thoughts were quick to respond though his
reply came after a noticeable hesitation. Alan did not appear to car