ay?"

For answer he held out hungry arms toward her. He would have sat
upright; pain and weakness were forgotten. But she was at his side in
a breath.

"You must not."

She put her hands on his shoulders to restrain him. He caught them and
held them close to him. She let him for a moment, then gently freed
them from his clasp.

"It is no worse than he says--your hurt?"

"It isn't bad at all."

"You're sure? You see, I didn't know until I got to the office. And
they made it out very bad there. They even said you mightn't live.
And I had to wait until he came with definite word. It was terrible.
When I thought--oh, David!"

The steadiness she had had to keep up before others gave way. Suddenly
she sat on the bed, pressing both hands tightly against her face.

"Don't, Esther!" Her weakness hurt him. "Don't! There's nothing to
cry for."

"Let me. I'll be all right--in a minute."

He let her then. And he wished that the hot iron in his own heart
could be cooled a little in tears. But his eyes were dry and aching
and the iron burned deeper. There _was_ something to cry for.

"Now!" It was the tempter whispering. "Now is the time to tell her."

But a strange paralysis was on his tongue and will.

She waited until she could achieve the smile she wanted him to see.
Then she let her hands fall to her lap. And in the brightness of that
smile the tears on her lashes were dewdrops that had caught the morning
sunlight.

"Speak up! Now!" It was the imp again.

"Why do you falter?" Now was the time to tell her of that beautiful
kingdom and how he proposed to win it for them, to ask her to wait
until he could lead her through its gates. And still he could
not. . . . And suddenly he knew that he never could. . . .

"There!" The smile was perfect. "That is over. I didn't mean to be
so foolish. It's only because I had been thinking it was so much
worse. Now I can take time to be glad. About this, I mean."

From the pocket of her jacket she drew forth a folded sheet of paper
and held it out to him. It was the letter from St. Mark's.

"It seems almost too good to be true, doesn't it?--though we ought
never to say that. I found it on the floor by my desk this morning. I
thought it was some of the office correspondence and opened it and--do
you mind?--when I saw what it was I read it through. I hardly knew
what I was doing. It didn't seem important then. But now-- Oh, I am
glad--glad