shall need encouragement, shall grow hungry for a word, a thought
from you. A year is very long to wait and work alone."

Eloquently she pleaded with voice and eyes and tender lips, but Warwick
did not yield.

"If the test be tried at all it must be fairly tried. We must stand
entirely apart and see what saving virtue lies in self-denial and
self-help."

"You will forget me, Adam. Some woman with a calmer heart than mine will
teach you to love as you desire to love, and when my work is done it
will be all in vain."

"Never in vain if it be well done, for such labor is its own reward.
Have no fear; one such lesson will last a lifetime. Do your part
heartily, and I will keep my pledge until the year is out."

"And then, what then?"

"If I see in you the progress both should desire, if this tie bears the
test of time and absence, and we find any basis for an abiding union,
then, Ottila, I will marry you."

"But if meanwhile that colder, calmer woman comes to you, what then?"

"Then I will not marry you."

"Ah, your promise is a man's vow, made only to be broken. I have no
faith in you."

"I think you may have. There will be no time for more folly; I must
repair the loss of many wasted days,--nay, not wasted if I have learned
this lesson well. Rest secure; it is impossible that I should love."

"You believed that three months ago and yet you are a lover now."

Ottila smiled an exultant smile, and Warwick acknowledged his proven
fallibility by a haughty flush and a frank amendment.

"Let it stand, then, that if I love again I am to wait in silence till
the year is out and you absolve me from my pledge. Does that satisfy
you?"

"It must. But you will come, whatever changes may befall you? Promise me
this."

"I promise it."

"Going so soon? Oh, wait a little!"

"When a duty is to be done, do it at once; delay is dangerous. Good
night."

"Give me some remembrance of you. I have nothing, for you are not a
generous lover."

"Generous in deeds, Ottila. I have given you a year's liberty, a dear
gift from one who values it more than life. Now I add this."

He drew her to him, kissed the red mouth and looked down upon her with a
glance that made his man's face as pitiful as any woman's as he let her
lean there happy in the hope given at such cost. For a moment nothing
stirred in the room but the soft whisper of the wind. For a moment
Warwick's austere life looked hard to him, love seemed sweet, submission