ou to
be happy!"

"I would not be happy if I married Charlotte."

"Why, Peter?"

"Because I do not love her."

"You would come to love her."

"No, Sheila--I am not free to do that."

"Do you--do you love some one else?" And her voice shook now in spite
of her attempt to keep it firm.

"Yes," he answered quietly, "I love some one else."

"Some one you can--marry?" She could not look at him, but question him
she must.

"No--not some one I can marry."

The room was very still for a moment; but she seemed to hear the sorrow
of his voice echoing and re-echoing through it.

"You will get over that in time," she whispered.

"I will never get over it," he answered.

And now she looked at him. She had wondered if he loved her; looking
into his sad eyes, she knew. A sob swelled her throat and broke from
her lips. And then they sprang up and faced each other.

So they stood, gazing at each other. And though they neither spoke nor
touched each other, the heart of each was clear to the other--more
clear, indeed, than speech or touch could have made them. So they
stood, looking into each other's eyes, and unbearable pain and
unbelievable ecstasy were mingled in those few, silent moments. Then
the ecstasy died; the pain became cruelly intense. And more than pain
shone dark in Sheila's eyes; fear crouched there, and Peter saw it.
She loved him--and she was afraid of him. More intolerably than
anything else, that hurt him--that she should have to be afraid of him.

"Peter," she said--and her voice trembled so that he could scarcely
understand her words, "Peter, I want you to marry Charlotte for--_for
my sake_." And her fear stared at him out of her eyes, stared at him
and implored him.

She was asking him to put Charlotte between them. He realized that
now. She was telling him that Ted and Eric were not enough to keep
them apart.

"I will do it--or something which will answer as well," he assured her
gently. "You may trust me for that, Sheila."

And then, still without touching her, without even looking at her
again, he was gone. He was gone and everything was ended for them--for
them who had not known even the beginnings.

CHAPTER XVI

Peter had engaged to dine with Charlotte that night, but after his talk
with Sheila, his first impulse was to excuse himself. It seemed to him
impossible to get back, at once, to the safe level of everyday life, of
commonplace affairs. It seemed impossib