t you stay here is a risk."

In that warning she had reason. I rose. It was time to act, but action
must be certain. If my groping movements missed her in the dark there
might be no second chance.

"Desire, if all is as you say and we are not to meet again as we have
done, you shall let me touch you before I go," I said firmly.

"No!"

"Yes. Why, would you have me live all the years to come in doubt whether
you were a woman or a dream? Perhaps you might seem at last a phantom of
my own sick brain to which faithfulness would be folly? Here across the
table I stretch my arm. Lay your palm in my palm. I may die tonight."

Whether she wished it also, or whether my resolve drew obedience, I do
not know. But a vague figure moved through the dark toward me. A hand
settled in mine with the brushing touch of an alighting bird. I closed
my hand hotly upon that one. I sprang a step aside from the table
between us, found her, and drew her to me.

What did I hold in my arms? Softness, fragrance, draperies beneath which
beat life and warmth. As I stooped to reassure her, her breath curled
against my cheek. So with that guide I turned my head, and set my lips
on the lips I had never seen.

Did Something uprear Itself out there in the black fog? A cold air
rushed across the summer heat of the fog; air foul as if issued from the
opened door of a vault. As once before, a tremor quivered through the
house. The hanging chains of the lamps swung with a faint tinkling
sound.

I snatched Desire Michell off her feet and sprang for the door. Somehow
I found and opened it at the first essay. We were out into the hall.
With one hand I dragged the door shut behind us, then carried her on to
the head of the stairs. There I set her down, but stood before her as a
bar against any attempt at escape.

A lamp shed a subdued light above us. I looked at my captive. Never
again after that kiss could she deny her womanhood or pose as a phantom.
So far my victory was complete. The lady might be angry, but it must be
woman's anger. I knew she had not suspected my intention until I lifted
her in my arms. She had struggled then, after her defenses had fallen.

She was quiet now, as though the light had quelled her resistance. She
stood drooped and trembling; not the old-time witch, not the dazzling
adventuress, only a small fragile girl wound and wrapped in some gray
stuff that even covered the brightness of her hair. Her face was held
down and show