it. "You needn't recite," he said. "Anything I've
done has been a--a pleasure to me. Our ways have lain a bit apart for
some months, but it makes no difference to my feelings, except to make
me regret it. The fortunes of war, eh? And a fair bit of grist is
rolling into our separate mills. Honest grist. We're good friends,
lad--so let's have it. It's--it's a woman?"

At the mention of the word, "woman," Will seemed to utterly freeze
up.

"Yes, it's--a woman," he said frigidly.

"Eve Marsham?"

"Yes."

Jim sighed. He knew there were breakers ahead. Breakers which must be
faced, and faced sternly.

"You love her?" There was a dryness in his throat.

"Yes. I--I can't live without her. She is my whole world. She is more
than that. God! How I love her!"

"I love her, too."

Jim's darkly brilliant eyes were on the younger man's face. They
compelled his gaze, and the two men looked long at each other, vainly
trying to penetrate to that which lay behind. It was Will who turned
away at last.

"I knew it," he said, and there was no longer any pretense of
cordiality in his tone.

"Well?"

"Well?"

It was a tense moment for both men; and tremendous in its possibilities.
There was no shrinking in either now; no yielding. But, as it ever was,
Jim took the lead after a few moments' silence.

"And--does she love you?" he asked slowly.

His words were little above a whisper, but so tense was his feeling
that his voice seemed to cut through the still air of the room. Will
hesitated before replying. Perhaps he was reckoning up Jim's chances
as compared with his own. Finally, he was reluctantly compelled to
make an admission.

"I don't know--yet."

The other sighed audibly. Then he mechanically began to refill his
pipe. He wanted to speak, but there seemed to be nothing adequate to
say. Two men, virile, thrilling with the ripe, red blood of perfect
manhood, friends, and--a woman stood between them.

"It's no good," Jim said, preparing to light his pipe. "The position
is--impossible."

"Yes."

Now both pipes were smoking as under a forced draught.

"I'd give my life for her," the elder muttered, almost unconsciously.

Will caught at his words.

"My life is hers," he cried, almost defiantly.

They were no further on.

"Can you--suggest----?"

Will shook his head. The snow on the distant peaks glistened like
diamonds in the gorgeous sunlight, and his attention seemed riveted
upon it.

"What pay are you