way from us
as the star--the star of gold is--from our world in the night--so far--I
didn't guess--you could come so--near." She bowed her head and wept.

"You are the star yourself, you beautiful--you are--"

But she stopped him, crying out. She could not draw her hands away, for
he still held them clasped to his heart.

"No, no! The wall is there. It must be between us for always, I am
promised." The grief wailed and wept in her tones, and her eyes were
wide and pleading. "I must lead my life, and you--you must stay outside
the wall. If you love me--Doctor,--you must never know it, and I must
never know it." Her beating heart stopped her speech and they both stood
thus a moment, each seeing only the other's soul.

"Promised?" The word sank into his heart like lead. "Promised?" Slowly
he released her hands, and she covered her face with them and sank at
his feet. He bent down to her and asked almost in a whisper: "Promised?
Did you say that word?"

She drooped lower and was silent.

All the chivalry of his nature rose within him. Should he come into her
life only to torment and trouble her? Ought he to leave the place? Could
he bear to live so near her? What had she done--this flower? Was she to
be devoured by swine? The questions clamored at the door of his heart.
But one thing could he see clearly. He must wait without the wall,
seeking only to serve and protect her.

With the unerring instinct which led her always straight to the mark,
she had seen the only right course. He repeated her words over and over
to himself. "If you love me, you must never know it, and I must never
know it." Her heart should be sacred from his personal intrusion, and
their old relations must be reestablished, at whatever cost to himself.

With flash-light clearness he saw his difficulty, and that only by the
elimination of self could he serve her, and also that her manner of
receiving his revelation had but intensified his feeling for her. The
few short moments seemed hours of struggle with himself ere he raised
her to her feet and spoke quietly, in his old way.

He lifted her hand to his lips. "It is past, Miss Cassandra. We will
drop these few moments out of your life into a deep well, and it shall
be as if they had never been." He thought as he spoke that the well was
his own heart, but that he would not say, for henceforth his love and
service must be selfless. "We may be good friends still? Just as we
were?"

"Yes, suh," s