umstances, but I will not permit you to take a leap in
the dark."

"That sounds very fine, but _I_ do not believe it!"

The black wings that poor Jan-an had suspected under Kathryn's fine
plumage were flapping darkly now. Kathryn was awed by Northrup's
silence and aloofness. She was afraid, but still angry. What was
filling her own narrow mind, she believed, was filling Northrup's and
she lost all sense of proportion.

"Is _she_ going over there?" she asked.

Northrup, if possible, looked more bewildered and dazed.

"She--whom do you mean, Kathryn?"

"Oh! I never meant to tell you! You drive me to it, Brace. I always
meant to blot it out----"

Kathryn got no further just then. Northrup came close to her and with
folded arms fixed his eyes upon her flushed face.

"Kathryn, you're excited; you've lost control of yourself, but there's
something under all this that we must get at. Just answer my
questions. Whom do you mean--by 'she'?"

Kathryn mentally recoiled and with her back to her wall replied, out
of the corner of her mouth:

"That girl in King's Forest!"

From sheer astonishment Northrup drew back as from a blow. Kathryn
misunderstood and gained courage.

"I forgave it because I love you, Brace." She gathered her cheap
little charms together--her sex appeals. "I understood from the moment
I saw her."

"When did you see her? Where?"

Northrup had recovered himself; he was able to think. He knew he must
act quickly, emphatically, and he generously tried to be just.

Keen to take advantage of what she believed was guilt, Kathryn
responded, dragging her lures along with her.

"Please, dear Brace, do not look at me so sternly. I could not help
what happened and I suffered so, although I never meant to let you
know. You see, I walked in the woods that day that I went to King's
Forest to tell you about your mother. A queer-looking girl told me
that you lived at the inn, but were then in the woods. I went to find
you; to meet you--can you not understand?"

The tears stood in Kathryn's eyes, her mouth quivered. Northrup
softened.

"Go on, Kathryn. I _do_ understand."

"Well, I came to a cabin in the woods, I don't know why, but something
made me think it was yours. You would be so likely to take such a
place as that, dear. I went in--to wait for you; to sit and think
about you, to calm myself--and then----"

"Yes, Kathryn!" Northrup was seeing it all--the cabin, the silent
red-and-gold woods.

"A