even though he could not as yet understand its full purport. His present
life seemed slipping from him as he listened, merging his personality in
one that was far older and greater. It was this loss of his present self
that brought to him the thought of death.

"You came here," she went on, "with the purpose of seeking it, and the
people felt your presence and are waiting to know what you decide,
whether you will leave them without having found it, or whether--"

Her eyes remained fixed upon his own, but her face began to change,
growing larger and darker with an expression of age.

"It is their thoughts constantly playing about your soul that makes you
feel they watch you. They do not watch you with their eyes. The purposes
of their inner life are calling to you, seeking to claim you. You were
all part of the same life long, long ago, and now they want you back
again among them."

Vezin's timid heart sank with dread as he listened; but the girl's eyes
held him with a net of joy so that he had no wish to escape. She
fascinated him, as it were, clean out of his normal self.

"Alone, however, the people could never have caught and held you," she
resumed. "The motive force was not strong enough; it has faded through
all these years. But I"--she paused a moment and looked at him with
complete confidence in her splendid eyes--"I possess the spell to
conquer you and hold you: the spell of old love. I can win you back
again and make you live the old life with me, for the force of the
ancient tie between us, if I choose to use it, is irresistible. And I do
choose to use it. I still want you. And you, dear soul of my dim