ent received in this surreptitious fashion," he pronounced, "is
presumably a treasonable document. I have no intention of returning it
to you."

She walked by his side for a few moments in silence. Glancing down into
her face, Julian was almost startled. There were none of the ordinary
signs of anger there, but an intense white passion, the control of which
was obviously costing her a prodigious effort. She touched his fingers
with her ungloved hand as she stepped over a stile, and he found them
icy cold. All the joy of that unexpectedly sunny morning seemed to have
passed.

"I am sorry, Miss Abbeway," he said almost humbly, "that you take my
decision so hardly. I ask you to remember that I am just an ordinary,
typical Englishman, and that I have already lied for your sake. Will you
put yourself in my place?"

They had climbed the little ridge of grass-grown sand and stood looking
out seaward. Suddenly all the anger seemed to pass from her face. She
lifted her head, her soft brown eyes flashed into his, the little curl
of her lips seemed to transform her whole expression. She was no longer
the gravely minded prophetess of a great cause, the scheming woman,
furious at the prospect of failure. She was suddenly wholly feminine,
seductive, a coquette.

"If you were just an ordinary, stupid, stolid Englishman," she
whispered, "why did you risk your honour and your safety for my sake?
Will you tell me that, dear man of steel?"

Julian leaned even closer over her. She was smiling now frankly into his
face, refusing the warning of his burning eyes. Then suddenly, silently,
he held her to him and kissed her, unresisting, upon the lips. She made
no protest. He even fancied afterwards, when he tried to rebuild in his
mind that queer, passionate interlude, that her lips had returned what
his had given. It was he who released her--not she who struggled. Yet he
understood. He knew that this was a tragedy.

Stenson's voice reached them from the other side of the ridge.

"Come and show me the way across this wretched bit of marsh, Orden. I
don't like these deceptive green grasses."

"`Pitfalls for the Politician' or `Look before you leap'." Julian
muttered aimlessly. "Quite right to avoid that spot, sir. Just follow
where I am pointing."

Stenson made his laborious way to their side.

"This may be a short cut back to the Hall," he exclaimed, "but except
for the view of the sea and this gorgeous air, I think I should have
p