, to another, and to one to whom every
sacred obligation commands me to keep my promise."

"I do not forget your promise--Mr. Plummer was in my mind when I was
speaking--nor do I urge you to break it."

"Why, then, do you speak? Why do you say that you mean to win me?"

"Because Mr. Plummer must break this bargain himself. He, of his own
accord, must give your promise back to you. I mean to make him do so. I
do not yet know how, but I shall find a way. Oh, I tell you, Sylvia,
this marriage of his and yours is not right. It's against nature. You do
not love him; you cannot--do not protest--not in a way that a woman
should love the man whom she is going to marry. You love me instead, and
I mean to make you keep on loving me, just as I mean to make Mr. Plummer
give you back your promise."

"Have you not undertaken two large tasks?" she said, smiling faintly.

But Harley, usually so short and terse, had made this long speech with
fire and heat, as the "still waters" were now running very deep, and he
went on:

"I have given you fair warning, Sylvia. Neither you nor Mr. Plummer can
say that I have begun any secret campaign. I have told you that I mean
to make you marry me."

She thought that she ought to stop him, to tell him that he must never
speak of such a thing again. Before her rose the figure of the man whom
she had promised to marry, square, massive, and iron-gray, but, solid as
the figure was, it quickly faded in the light of the real and earnest
young face beside her. Youth spoke to youth, and she did not stop him,
because what he was saying to her was very pleasant, though it might be
wrong.

The morning was brilliant and vivid on the mountains. Far away the white
peaks melted dimly into the blue sky, and below them lay the valleys,
cup after cup, white with snow. The others rode on ahead, not noticing,
and Harley was not one to let time slip through his fingers.

"You must not speak in this way to me again," she said, at last,
although her tone was not sad, only firm, "because it is not right. I
knew that it was wrong, even while you were saying it, but I could not
stop you. You know you cannot change what is fixed, and I must marry Mr.
Plummer."

Harley laughed joyously. Later he did not know why he was so confident
then, but the air of the mountains and a new fire, too, were sparkling
in his veins, and at that moment he had no doubts.

"You will not marry Mr. Plummer," he repeated, with energy, "an