f
the thunder reverberated far away among the distant hills. The
night was passing.

Out of a deep silence there came Guy's voice. "I want--" he said
restlessly--"I want----"

She bent over him. Her arm went round his shoulders. Somehow she
felt as if the furnace of suffering through which he had come had
purged away all that was evil. His weakness cried aloud to her;
the rest was forgotten.

He turned his face up to her; and though the stamp of his agony was
still upon it, the eyes were pure and free from all taint of
passion.

"What do you want?" she asked him softly.

"I've been--horrible to you, Sylvia," he said, speaking rather
jerkily. "Sometimes I get a devil inside me--and I don't know what
I'm doing. I believe it's Kieff. I never knew what hell meant
till I met him. He taught me practically everything I know in that
line. He was like an awful rotting disease. He ruined everyone he
came near. Everything he touched went bad." He paused a moment.
Then, with a sudden boyishness, "There, it's done with, darling,"
he said. "Will you forget it all--and let me start afresh? I've
had such damnable luck always."

His eyes pleaded with her, yet they held confidence also. He knew
that she would not refuse.

And because of that which the lamplight had revealed to her, Sylvia
bent after a moment and kissed him on the forehead. She knew as
she did it that the devil, that had menaced her had been driven
forth.

So for a space they remained in a union of the spirit that was
curiously unlike anything that had ever before existed between
them. Then Guy's arm began to slip away from her. There came from
him a deep sigh.

She bent low over him, looking into his face. His eyes were
closed, but his lips moved, murmuring words which she guessed
rather than heard.

"Let me rest--just for a little! I shall be all right--afterwards."

She laid him back very gently upon the pillow, and lifted his feet
on to the bed. He thanked her almost inaudibly, and relaxed every
muscle like a tired child. She turned the lamp from him and moved
away.

She dressed in the dimness. Guy did not stir again. He lay
shrouded in the peace of utter repose. She had watched those deep
slumbers too often to fear any sudden awakening.

A few minutes later she went to the door, and softly opened it.

The sullen clouds were lifting; the night had gone. Very far away
a faint orange light spread like the reflected glow f