said it came
to him with a shock--he thought of the future. He stopped still in the
road. He had been so intoxicated with the experiences he had just passed
through that it had actually never occurred to him what they might mean;
and according to Nort's temperament the new vision instantly swallowed
up the old, and, as it was cooler and clearer, seemed even more
wonderful. He remembered saying very deliberately and aloud:

"I must work for Anthy all my life."

It came to him as a very wonderful thing that he could do this! Why, he
could do anything for her: he could slave and dig and die! He could be
_great_ for her--and let no one else know how great he was! He could win
a battle, he could command men, he could write the greatest book in the
world, and no one should know it but Anthy! Oh, youth, youth!

His mind again became inordinately active: the whole wonderful future
opened before him. He began to plan a thousand things that he might do.
He would imagine himself walking home with Anthy, just as he had done
that night, thrilling with the thought of her at his side, and he would
be telling her his plans, and always she would be looking up into his
face just as she had been doing at that last moment!

All these things seem long in the telling--and they lasted for ages in
Nort's soul--but as a matter of fact they were brief enough in time.
Fergus, stumbling along behind in the cold road, his hard-set spirit
suffering dumbly, was only waiting the choice of a moment to lay his
hand upon Nort's shoulder. And thus the two of them came, by no
forethought, to the little hill just north of my farm, and I entered for
a moment, all unconsciously, upon the comedy, or the tragedy, of that
historic night.

I can't tell exactly what time it was, but I had been asleep for some
time when I heard knocking on the outer door. As I started up in bed I
heard some one calling my name, "David! David!" I ran downstairs
quickly, wondering why Harriet was not before me, for she is a light
sleeper. As I opened the door I saw a man on the porch.

"David!"

"Nort! What are you doing here at this time of the night?"

"Let me come in!" he said in a tense voice. "I've got something I must
tell you."

I got him into my study and shut the door so that Harriet would not be
disturbed. Then I struck a light and looked at Nort. His face was
uncommonly pale; but his eyes, usually blue and smiling, were black with
excitement. I could not fathom