it for a
moment unresisting in his own, said--

"I accept the condition, and as you have said so shall it be. You
shall hear no more words of love from my lips until the day that
peace shall be proclaimed on earth and war shall be no more; and when
that day comes, as it shall do, I will hold you to your words, and I
will claim you and take you, body and soul, as you have said, though
I break every other human tie save man's love for woman to possess
you."

Natasha looked him full in the eyes as he spoke these last words. She
had never heard such words before, and by their very strength and
audacity they compelled her respect and even her submission. Her
heart was still untamed and unconquered, and no man was its lord, yet
her eyes sank before the steady gaze of his, and in a low sweet voice
she answered--

"So be it! There never was a true woman yet who did not love to meet
her master. When that day comes I shall have met my master, and I
will do his bidding. Till then we are friends and comrades in a
common Cause to which both our lives are devoted. Is it not better
that it should be so?"

"Yes, I am content. I would not take the prize before I have won it.
Only answer me one question frankly, and then I have done till I may
speak again."

"What is that."

"Have I a rival--not among men, for of that I am careless--but in
your own heart?"

"No, none. I am heart-whole and heart-free. Win me if you can. It is
a fair challenge, and I will abide by the result, be it what it may."

"That is all I ask for. If I do not win you, may Heaven do so to me
that I shall have no want of the love of woman for ever!"

So saying, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, in token of
the compact that was made between them. Then, intuitively divining
that she wished to be alone, he turned away without another word, and
walked to the after end of the vessel.

Natasha remained where she was for a good half-hour, leaning on the
rail that surrounded the deck, and gazing out dreamily over the
splendid and ever-changing scene that lay spread out beneath her.
Truly it was a glorious world, as she had said, even now, cursed as
it was with war and the hateful atrocities of human selfishness, and
the sordid ambition of its despots.

What would it be like in the day when the sword should lie rusting on
the forgotten battle-field, and the cannon's mouth be choked with the
desert dust for ever? What was now a hell of warring passio