thirst nor
passion nor the need of sleep; neither a perception of the senses nor a
physical demand, yet streaming divinely through any or all of these as
only light may stream--the heavenly signal of a star to earth, through
infinite darkness, illimitable space.

By tortuous paths and devious passages, she had come out upon the
heights, into the clear upper air of freedom and of love. Exquisitely,
through the love of the one had come the love of the many; the complete
mastery of self had been gained by the surrender of self; triumph had
rewarded sacrifice.

[Sidenote: Her Understanding of Love]

Nothing was difficult now--nothing would ever be hard again. To go where
she was wanted, to give what she could that was needed, steadily to set
self aside, asking for nothing but the opportunity to help, and through
this high human service renewing the spent forces of her soul at the
divine fountains that do not fail--this, indeed, was Love!

Oh, to make the others understand as she understood now--and as Alden
understood! In her thought they two were as one. Groping through the
same darkness, he had emerged, with her, into the same light; she felt
it through the living, throbbing night more certainly than if they stood
face to face in the blinding glare of the sun.

The heart-breaking tragedy of Woman revealed itself wholly to her for
the first time. Less materialistic and more finely-grained than Man, she
aspires toward things that are often out of his reach. Failing in her
aspiration, confused by the effort to distinguish the false from the
true, she blindly clutches at the counterfeit and so loses the genuine
forever.

Longing, from the day of her birth for Love, she spends herself
prodigally in the endless effort to find it, little guessing,
sometimes, that it is not the most obvious thing Man has to offer. With
colour and scent and silken sheen, she makes a lure of her body; with
cunning artifice she makes temptation of her hands and face and weaves
it with her hair. She flatters, pleads, cajoles; denies only that she
may yield, sets free in order to summon back, and calls, so that when he
has answered she may preserve a mystifying silence.

[Sidenote: Her Estimate of Women]

She affects a thousand arts that in her heart she despises, pretends to
housewifery that she hates, forces herself to play tunes though she has
no gift for music, and chatters glibly of independence when she has none
at all.

In making h