ayest be one not going away from me!"

Leonie swayed slightly as the words passed faintly and yet more faintly,
like a moan, from her lips; her eyes were closing slowly, very slowly;
and she slipped to her knees, her bleeding arms held out towards the man
before whom she knelt, as the breeze blew her glistening hair this way
and that, exposing for a second, then hiding the glories of the exquisite
white figure from the eyes which could not help but see.

Drooping lower and lower she stretched herself, face downwards, upon the
sand, closed her eyes as the moon sank suddenly behind a dense mass of
clouds, and peacefully went to sleep.

[1]In one of the rites concerning the worship of Kali, women's garments
are thrown in a heap, from which men choose indiscriminately. The
garment he chooses gives the man a right to the woman who owns it.

CHAPTER XXI

"And wilt thou leave me thus
That hath given thee my heart?--Say nay! Say nay!"--Sir T. Wyatt.

What in heaven's name was he to do now?

Touch her he would not; let her know that he had seen her in all her
unhidden beauty he could not; yet the gurgling and rustling and
whispering between the water and the stones told him that the tide was
racing in, and that what he intended to do he must do right quickly.

All he wanted to do was to gather her up in his strong arms, and
wakening her with kisses carry her to safety.

Safety from the sea, safety from the unknown spell which had been laid
upon her, safety from the horrible future; a safety he felt which could
only be found within the circumference of his arms folded about her in
love.

But instead he looked round for the garments she must have left
somewhere, and seeing them, stepped quietly across the widening pools
and gathered up the soft, sweet-smelling heap of dainty raiment;
clenching his hands tight upon them to prevent himself from burying his
face in the perfumed delicate things which he had not the right even to
touch.

A little knot of pale pink bebe ribbon came away in his hand, and he
twisted it around the seaweed ring she had twined about his finger,
then untwisted them both and slipped them into his pocket, and stooped
to pick up something which had slipped from the garments and tinkled on
the rocks.

"Oh, you beauty!" he said as he held the jewel out in his open hand,
and "Oh, you brute!" he said again is the cat's-eye winked cunningly at
him with the knowledge of all ages in its l