n the arms
of a man savage with the delicious pain of his passion.

At last it was the woman who stirred to release herself. It is ever
the woman who leads where love dominates. She gently but firmly freed
herself. She held his hands and looked up into his glowing eyes. She
had something to say, something to ask him, and, reluctant though she
be, she must abandon for the time the blissful moments when their
mutual love was burning to the exclusion of all else. Will's
passionate eyes held her, and for some moments she could not speak.
Then, with an effort, she released his hands and defensively turned
her eyes away.

"I--I want to speak to you about--Jim," she said at last, a little
hesitatingly.

And the fire in the man's eyes abruptly died out.

"He was here this morning, and--he was a little strange."

Will propped himself against the table, and his face, strangely pale,
was turned to the window. Nor did he see the snow-capped hills which
bounded the entire view. Guilty thoughts filled his mind and crowded
out everything else.

"Well?" he demanded, as Eve waited for him to speak.

"You are such friends, dear, that I wanted to ask you--Do you know why
he came to see me?"

Will shook his head. Then a smile struggled round his clean shaven
mouth.

"Maybe the same reason that makes most fellows crowd round a pretty
girl."

It was a wistful smile that accompanied the girl's denial.

"I would like to think it was only that," she said. "Do you know I am
very, very fond of Jim. No, no, not in the way you mean," she
exclaimed hastily, as the man turned on her, hot with the jealousy
which was so much a part of his Celtic nature. "I have always been
fond of Jim. He's so generous; so kind and self-sacrificing. Do you
know, Will, I believe he'd give up anything to you. It is my
conviction that his first thought in life is for your welfare and
happiness. And somehow, it--it doesn't seem right. No, I don't mean
that you don't deserve it, but that--well, don't you think a man
should fight every battle in which he finds himself on his own
account? Don't you think, you who are so capable, that the struggles
that every man must encounter in life demand the whole of his
energies to bring them to a successful end? I do. It's not a matter of
self exactly, but we are all so full of weaknesses that this unselfish
way of dividing our energies is apt to weaken our own defenses. Thus
the scheme for our own uplifting, our own pur