ds of living coals, glowed above the
terrace. As we drew nearer, the water caught the blaze of color,
reflecting the splendor in subdued tints of smothered flame. And
always, in the pool, I saw the terrace steps, reversed, leading down
into depths of sombre fire.

"And here we dismount," said I, and offered my aid.

She laid her hands on my shoulders; I swung her to the ground, where
her sabots clicked and her silver neck-chains jingled in the silence.

I looked around. How intensely still was everything--the leaves, the
water! The silent blue peaks on the horizon seemed to be watching me;
the trees around me were so motionless that they also appeared to be
listening with every leaf.

This quarter of the world was too noiseless for me; there might have
been a bird-note, a breeze to whisper, a minute stirring of unseen
life--but there was not.

"Is that house empty?" I asked, turning brusquely on my companion.

"The Countess de Vassart will give you your answer," she replied.

"Kindly announce me, then," I said, grimly, and together we mounted
the broad flight of steps to the esplanade, above which rose the gray
mansion of La Trappe.

III

LA TRAPPE

There was a small company of people gathered at a table which stood in
the cool shadows of the chateau's eastern wing. Towards these people
my companion directed her steps; I saw her bend close to the ear of a
young girl who had already turned to look at me. At the same instant a
heavily built, handsome man pushed back his chair and stood up,
regarding me steadily through his spectacles, one hand grasping the
back of the seat from which he had risen.

Presently the young girl to whom my companion of the morning had
whispered rose gracefully and came toward me.

Slender, yet with that charming outline of body which youth wears as a
promise, she moved across the terrace in her flowing robe of crape,
and welcomed me with a gesture and a pleasant word, which I scarcely
heard, so stupidly I stood, silenced by the absolute loveliness of the
girl. Did I say loveliness? No, not that, but something newer,
something far more fresh, far sweeter, that made mere physical beauty
a thing less vital than the colorless shadow of a crystal.

She was not only beautiful, she was Beauty itself, incarnate, alive,
soul and body. Later I noticed that she was badly sun-burned under the
eyes, that her delicate nose was adorned by an adorable freckle, and
that she had red hair