s I should have
loved him, had it been so fated."

"So you are a fatalist, Unorna," observed her companion, still stroking
and twisting his beard. "It is strange that we should differ upon so
many fundamental questions, you and I, and yet be such good friends. Is
it not?"

"The strangest thing of all is that I should submit to your exasperating
ways as I do."

"It does not strike me that it is I who am quarrelling this time," said
Keyork.

"I confess, I would almost prefer that to your imperturbable coolness.
What is this new phase? You used not to be like this. You are planning
some wickedness. I am sure of it."

"And that is all the credit I get for keeping my temper! Did I not say a
while ago that I would never quarrel with you again?"

"You said so, but--"

"But you did not expect me to keep my word," said Keyork, slipping from
his seat on the table with considerable agility and suddenly standing
close before her. "And do you not yet know that when I say a thing I do
it, and that when I have got a thing I keep it?"

"So far as the latter point is concerned, I have nothing to say. But you
need not be so terribly impressive; and unless you are going to break
your word, by which you seem to set such store, and quarrel with me, you
need not look at me so fiercely."

Keyork suddenly let his voice drop to its deepest and most vibrating
key.

"I only want you to remember this," he said. "You are not an ordinary
woman, as I am not an ordinary man, and the experiment we are making
together is an altogether extraordinary one. I have told you the truth.
I care for nothing but my individual self, and I seek nothing but the
prolongation of life. If you endanger the success of the great trial
again, as you did to-day, and if it fails, I will never forgive you.
You will make an enemy of me, and you will regret it while you live,
and longer than that, perhaps. So long as you keep the compact there
is nothing I will not do to help you--nothing within the bounds of your
imagination. And I can do much. Do you understand?"

"I understand that you are afraid of losing my help."

"That is it--of losing your help. I am not afraid of losing you--in the
end."

Unorna smiled rather scornfully at first, as she looked down upon the
little man's strange face and gazed fearlessly into his eyes. But as she
looked, the smile faded, and the colour slowly sank from her face,
until she was very pale. And as she felt herself losing c