owing me their pictures), and
finally, and choicest of all, she told me, a little here and a little
there, of the curious imaginative adventures which had been so much a
part of her girlhood. I presume I took all these things more seriously
than she did, for she exhibited them in no solemn vein, as though they
were important, but always in an amusing or playful light--here with a
bit of mock heroics, there with half-wistful laughter. And yet, through
it all, I could see that they had meant a great deal to her.

I think, I am almost sure, that Anthy had never at this time had a love
affair in any ordinary sense. To the true romance and the truly
romantic--and by this I do not mean sentimental--the realities of love
are often late in coming. To the true romance the idea of marriage is at
first repugnant, will not be thought about, for it seeks to square and
conventionalize a great burst of the spirit. The inner life is so keen,
so vivid, that it satisfies itself, and it must indeed be a prince who
would kiss awake the eyes of the dreamer.

Some of these things, when I began this narrative, I had no intention of
setting down in cold type, for they are among the deepest experiences in
my life, and yet if I am to give an idea of what Anthy was and of the
events which followed, it is imposed upon me to leave nothing out.

I do not wish to indicate, however, that the talks I had with Anthy
usually or even often reached these depths of the intimate. These were
the rare and beautiful flowers which blossomed upon the slow-growing
branches of the tree of intimacy. It was a curious thing, also, that
while she let me more and more deeply into her own life she knew less
about what was in my life than many other friends, far less even than
Nort. Youth is like that, too, and even when essentially unselfish, it
is terribly absorbed in the wonders of its own being. I knew what it
meant. In a way it was the price I paid for the utter trust she had in
me.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XVI

THE OLD CAPTAIN COMES INTO HIS OWN

It was a great winter we had in the office of the _Star_. It was in
those months that we really made the _Star_. It was curious, indeed,
once we began to be knitted together in a new bundle--with Anthy's quiet
and strong hand upon us--how the qualities in each of us which had
seriously threatened to disrupt the organization, had set us all by the
ears, were the very qualities which contributed most to the su