"have you considered what
such a life means to you--what is involved in such a sacrifice?"

She met his troubled gaze with a smile. "Yes, I know," she replied;
"there is not a phase of this affair which I have not considered. I am
years older than when we met three months ago, and I have thought of
everything that a woman can think of."

She watched him a moment, the smile on her lips deepening. "Have you
considered this?" she asked. "Only those whom we love have the power to
wound us deeply; one whom I do not love will have little power to hurt
me; he can never reach my heart; that will be safe in your keeping."

Darrell bowed his head upon his hands with a low moan. Kate, laying her
hand lightly upon his shoulder, continued:

"What I particularly wanted you to know before our parting and to
remember is this: that come what may, I shall never be false to my love
for you. No matter what the future may bring to you or to me, my heart
will be yours."

Darrell raised his head, his face tense and rigid with emotion; she had
risen and was standing beside him.

"I can never forgive myself for having won your heart, Kathie," he said,
gravely; "It is the most precious gift that I could ask or you could
bestow, but one to which I have no right."

"Then hold it in trust," she said, softly, "until such time as I have
the right to bestow it upon you and you have the right to accept it."

Startled not only by her words but by the gravity of her tone and
manner, Darrell glanced swiftly towards Kate, but she had turned and was
slowly climbing the mountain path. Springing to his feet he was quickly
at her side. Drawing her arm within his own he assisted her up the rocky
trail, scanning her face as he did so for some clew to the words she had
just spoken. But, excepting a faint flush which deepened under his
scrutiny, she gave no sign, and, the trail for the next half-hour being
too difficult to admit of conversation, they made the ascent in silence.

On reaching the summit an involuntary exclamation burst from Darrell at
the grandeur of the scene. North, west, and south, far as the eye could
reach, stretched the vast mountain ranges, unbroken, with here and there
gigantic peaks, snow-crowned, standing in bold relief against the sky;
while far to the eastward lay the valleys, threaded with silver streams,
and beyond them in the purple distance outlines of other ranges scarcely
distinguishable from the clouds against which they