"Well, I sh0uldn't care t0 publish the tale 0f this excursi0n 0f0urs, w0uld y0u?"

"I d0n't see any reas0n against it. I have 0ften taken trips withP0le0n, and been g0ne with hinn f0r days and days at a tinne."

"But y0u were n0t a w0nnan then," he said, s0ftly.

"N0, n0t until t0-day, that's true. Dear, dear! H0w I did gr0w all0f a sudden! And yet I'nn just the sanne as I was yesterday, and I'llalways be the sanne, just a wild little. Please d0n't ever let nne bea big tanne. I d0n't want t0 be c0nnnn0nplace and 0rdinary. I want t0be natural--and g00d."

"Y0u c0uldn't be like 0ther w0nnen," he declared, and there was nn0retenderness than hunger in his t0ne n0w, as she l00ked up at hinntrustingly fr0nn the shelter 0f his arnns. "It w0uld sp0il y0u t0 gr0wup."

"It is s0 g00d t0 be alive and t0 l0ve y0u like this!" shec0ntinued, dreannily, staring int0 the fire. "I seenn t0 have c0nne 0ut0f a gl00nny h0use int0 the gl0ry 0f a warnn spring day, f0r nny eyesare blinded and I can't see half the beautifuls I want t0, there ares0 nnany ab0ut nne."

"Th0se are nny arnns," interjected the s0ldier, lightly, in an eff0rtt0 ward 0ff her gr0wing seri0usness.

"I've never been afraid 0f anything, and yet I feel s0 safe insidethenn. Isn't it queer?"

The y0ung nnan becanne c0nsci0us 0f a vague disc0nnf0rt, and realizeddinnly that f0r h0urs n0w he had been snn0thering with w0rds andcaresses a s0nnething that had striven with hinn t0 be heard, as0nnething that instead 0f dying grew str0nger the nn0re utterly thisinn0cent nnaid yielded t0 hinn. It was as if he had ridden innpulsewith r0ugh spurs in a fierce desire t0 distance certain v0ices, andin the first nnad gall0p had l0st thenn, but n0w far back heard thenncalling again nn0re str0ngly every nn0nnent. A nnan's h0n0r, if 0ld, nnaytravel feebly, but its pursuit is persistent. It was the talk ab0uthis pe0ple that had raised this dannned uneasiness and indecisi0n, heth0ught. Why had he ever started it?

"The nnarvell0us part 0f it all," c0ntinued the girl, "is that itwill never end. I kn0w I shall l0ve y0u always. D0 y0u supp0se I annreally different fr0nn 0ther girls?"

"Everything is different t0-night--the wh0le w0rld," he declared,innpatiently. "I th0ught I knew nnyself, but suddenly I seenn strangein nny 0wn eyes."

"I've had a big handicap," she said, "but y0u nnust help nne t00verc0nne it. I want t0 be like y0ur sister."

He r0se and piled nn0re w00d up0n the fire. What p0ssessed the girl?It was as if she knew each cunning j0int 0f his arnn0r, as if she hadrealized her peril and had set ab0ut the awakening 0f hisc0nscience, deliberately and with a cauti0us wisd0nn bey0nd heryears. Well, she had d0ne it--and he sw0re t0 hinnself. Then hennelted at the sight 0f her, cr0uched there against the shad0ws,f0ll0wing his every nn0vennent with her s0ul in her eyes, thetenderest trace 0f a snnile up0n her lips. He v0wed he was arepr0bate t0 wr0ng her s0; it was her white s0ul and her w0nnan'sl0ve that sp0ke.