d rapt look came back, the old set, determined expression which
showed that that delicate organization could grow as strong as granite
in its power to endure.

Wallulah shrank away from him, and strove to free herself from his
embrace.

"Let me go," she said, in a low, stifled tone. "Oh, if I could only
die!"

But he held her close, almost crushing the delicate form against his
breast. She felt his heart beat deeply and painfully against her own,
and in some way it came to her that every throb was agony, that he was
in the extremity of mental and physical suffering.

"God help me!" he said; "how can I give you up?"

She realized by woman's intuition that his whole soul was wrung with
pain, with an agony darker and bitterer than her own; and the
exceeding greatness of his suffering gave her strength. A sudden
revulsion of feeling affected her. She looked up at him with infinite
tenderness.

"I wish I could take all the pain away from you and bear it myself."

"It is God's will; we must submit to it."

"His will!" Her voice was full of rebellion. "Why does he give us such
bitter suffering? Doesn't he care? I thought once that God was good,
but it is all dark now."

"Hush, you must not think so. After all, it will be only a little
while till we meet in heaven, and there no one can take you from me."

"Heaven is so far off. The present is all that I can see, and it is as
black as death. Death! it would be sweet to die now with your arms
around me; but to _live_ year after year with him! How can I go to
him, now that I have known you? How can I bear his presence, his
touch?"

She shuddered there in Cecil's arms. All her being shrunk in
repugnance at the thought of Snoqualmie.

"Thank God for death!" said Cecil, brokenly.

"It is so long to wait," she murmured, "and I am so young and
strong."

His kisses fell on cheek and brow. She drew down his head and put her
cheek against his and clung to him as if she would never let him go.

It was a strange scene, the mournful parting of the lovers in the
gloom of the forest and the night. To the east, through the black
net-work of leaves and branches, a dull red glow marked the crater of
Mount Hood, and its intermittent roar came to them through the
silence. It was a night of mystery and horror,--a fitting night for
their tragedy of love and woe. The gloom and terror of their
surroundings seemed to throw a supernatural shadow over their
farewell.

"The burning m