own. I
cannot lose you now. That will be what God never meant to be. I shall
keep all my promises to you. You have given me a month, and much can
happen in that time. If at the end of the month I have failed--I will
go. But you will not send me away. For I shall win!"

So sure was he, so filled with the conviction of his final triumph, so
like a god to her in this moment of his greatest strength, that
Josephine drew slowly away from him, her breath coming quickly, her
eyes filled with the star-like pride and glory of the Woman who has
found a Master. For a moment they stood facing each other in the white
stillness of the forest, and in that moment there came to them the low
and mourning wail of a dog beyond them. And then the full voice of the
pack burst through the wilderness, a music that was wild and savage,
and yet through which there ran a strange and plaintive note for
Josephine.

"They have caught us in the wind," she said, holding out her hand to
him. "Come, Philip. I want you to love my beasts."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

After a little the trail through the thick spruce grew narrow and dark,
and Josephine went ahead of Philip. He followed so close that he could
reach out a hand and touch her. She had not replaced her hood. Her face
was flushed and her lips parted and red when she turned to him now and
then. His heart beat with a tumultuous joy as he followed. A few
moments before he had not spoken to her boastfully, or to keep up a
falling spirit. He had given voice to what was in his heart, what was
there now, telling him that she belonged to him, that she loved him,
that there could be nothing in the world that would long stand between
them.

The voice of the pack came to them stronger each moment, yet for a
space it was unheard by him. His mind--all the senses he
possessed--travelled no farther than the lithesome red and gold figure
ahead of him. The thick strands of her braid had become partly undone,
covering her waist and hips in a shimmering veil of gold. He wanted to
touch that rare treasure with his hands. He was filled with the desire
to stop her, and hold her close in his arms. And yet he knew that this
was a thing which he must not do. For him she had risen above a thing
merely physical. The touching of her hair, her lips, her face, were no
longer the first passions of love with him. And because Josephine knew
these things rose the joyous flush in her face and the wonder-light in
her eyes. Th