close that his shoulders were covered with it.
Like a bird Mary Josephine sped to Duggan. Great red beard and all she
hugged him, and on the flaming red of his bare cheek-bone she kissed
him.

"Gosh," said Duggan, at a loss for something better to say. "Gosh--"

Then Keith had him by the hand. "Andy, you ripsnorting old liar, if you
weren't old enough to be my father, I'd whale the daylights out of
you!" he cried joyously. "I would, just because I love you so! You've
made this day the--the--the--"

"--The most memorable of my life," helped Mary Josephine. "Is that
it--John?"

Timidly, for the first time, her cheek against his shoulder, she spoke
his name. And before Duggan's eyes Keith kissed her.

Hours later, in a world aglow with the light of stars and a radiant
moon, Keith and Mary Josephine were alone out in the heart of their
little valley. To Keith it was last night returned, only more
wonderful. There was the same droning song in the still air, the low
rippling of running water, the mysterious whisperings of the mountains.
All about them were the guardian peaks of the snow-capped ranges, and
under their feet was the soft lush of grass and the sweet scent of
flowers. "Our valley of dreams," Mary Josephine had named it, an
infinite happiness trembling in her voice. "Our beautiful valley of
dreams--come true!" "And you would have come with me--that night?"
asked Keith wonderingly. "That night--I ran away?"

"Yes. I didn't hear you go. And at last I went to your door and
listened, and then I knocked, and after that I called to you, and when
you didn't answer, I entered your room."

"Dear heaven!" breathed Keith. "After all that, you would have come
away with me, covered with blood, a--a murderer, they say--a hunted
man--"

"John, dear." She took one of his hands in both her own and held it
tight. "John, dear, I've got something to tell you."

He was silent.

"I made Duggan promise not to tell you I was here when he found you,
and I made him promise something else--to keep a secret I wanted to
tell you myself. It was wonderful of him. I don't see how he did it."

She snuggled still closer to him, and held his hand a little tighter.
"You see, John, there was a terrible time after you killed Shan Tung.
Only a little while after you had gone, I saw the sky growing red. It
was Shan Tung's place--afire. I was terrified, and my heart was broken,
and I didn't move. I must have sat at the window a long time, w