.--THE HERO
VII.--THE NET
VIII.--THE SUMMONS
IX.--FOR THE SAKE OF THE OLD LOVE
X.--THE BEARER OF EVIL TIDINGS
XI.--THE SHARP CORNER
XII.--THE COST

PART IV

I.--SAND OF THE DESERT
II.--THE SKELETON TREE
III.--THE PUNISHMENT
IV.--THE EVIL THING
V.--THE LAND OF BLASTED HOPES
VI.--THE PARTING
VII.--PIET VREIBOOM
VIII.--OUT OF THE DEPTHS
IX.--THE MEETING
X.--THE TRUTH
XI.--THE STORM
XII.--THE SACRIFICE
XIII.--BY FAITH AND LOVE

The Top of the World

PART I

CHAPTER I

ADVICE

"You ought to get married, Miss Sylvia," said old Jeffcott, the
head gardener, with a wag of his hoary beard. "You'll need to be
your own mistress now."

"I should hope I am that anyway," said, Sylvia with a little laugh.

She stood in the great vinery--a vivid picture against a background
of clustering purple fruit. The sunset glinted on her tawny hair.
Her red-brown eyes, set wide apart, held a curious look, half
indignant, half appealing.

Old Jeffcott surveyed her with loving admiration. There was no one
in the world to compare with Miss Sylvia in his opinion. He loved
the open English courage of her, the high, inborn pride of race.
Yet at the end of the survey he shook his head.

"There's not room for two mistresses in this establishment, Miss
Sylvia," he said wisely. "Three years to have been on your own, so
to speak, is too long. You did ought to get married, Miss Sylvia.
You'll find it's the only way."

His voice took on almost a pleading note. He knew it was possible
to go too far.

But the girl facing him was still laughing. She evidently felt no
resentment.

"You see, Jeffcott," she said, "there's only one man in the world I
could marry. And he's not ready for me yet."

Jeffcott wagged his beard again commiseratingly. "So you've never
got over it, Miss Sylvia? Your feelings is still the same--after
five years?"

"Still the same," said Sylvia. There was a momentary challenge in
her bright eyes, but it passed. "It couldn't be any different,"
she said softly. "No one else could ever come anywhere near him."

Jeffcott sighed aloud. "I know he were a nice young gentleman," he
conceded. "But I've seen lots as good before and since. He
weren't nothing so very extraordinary, Miss Sylvia."

Sylvia's look went beyond him, seeming to rest upon something very
far away. "He was to me, Jeffcott," she said. "We just--fitted
each other, he a