d to peer into the darkness of a green garden.

"'What man art thou, that thus bescreened in night,
So stumblest on my counsel?'"

Evander answered, very earnest now:

"'By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee:
Had I it written, I would tear the word.'"

Brilliana's voice faltered as she took up the tale.

"'My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound.
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?'"

Evander was quite near now to the chair and the fair maid perched
upon it, and the words trembled on his lips.

"'Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.'"

He put out his hands and caught hers for a moment. Then she drew them
free and jumped down. She went to the open space and looked into the
wet garden with a hand to her head and a hand to her heart. Evander
followed her.

"Ah, me," she said, "love was a heady god in Verona. Here in England
he could not solder such hostilities."

Evander answered her passionately.

"Here in England love is a more glorious god yet, for he can fling a
Puritan soldier at the feet of a Cavalier lady."

Brilliana still stared straight before her.

"We have drifted from the land of shadows."

Evander spoke from his heart.

"We have drifted into reality. I love you. I cannot change my faith
for that, I cannot change my flag. But believe this, remember this,
that in the Parliament's army one Puritan is as true your lover as
all the Cavaliers who worship you."

Brilliana turned and looked at him now, very steadfastly:

"You do not speak by the book."

"No, only by my heart," Evander answered, simply. "I tell you my
soul's truth. I love you, I shall love you to the end, whether the
end come in a battle on a windy heath, or in an oblong box of a bed."

Brilliana's eyes were bright and kind.

"You do not know what you are saying. I do not know what you are
saying. The world would have to change before I could listen with
patience to words of love on the lips of a rebel."

Evander answered her bravely.

"I know that. I did not hope; but I had to set my soul free. To the
end of ends I shall cherish you, live for you, die for you: very
lonely, well content."

Brilliana turned away. The heart of Juliet within her was big almost
to breaking.

"The rain ceases; I must go int