too well. I might think I could do it up here where it is all still and
purple and sweet and sacred. But when we got down to the valley again I
am afraid I couldn't live up to it, nor to you, Philip, my king.
Forgive me."

Phil bent and kissed her again--not passionately this time, but with a
kind of reverent solemnity as if he were performing a rite.

"Never mind, sweetheart. I don't blame you any more than you blame me.
We've got to take life as we find it, not try to make it over into
something different to please ourselves. If some day you meet the man who
can make you happy in your way, I'll not grudge him the right. I'm not
sure I shall even envy him. I've had my moment."

"But Phil, you aren't going to be awfully unhappy about me?" sighed
Carlotta. "Promise you won't. You know I never wanted to hurt the
moon, dear."

Philip shook his head.

"Don't worry about the moon. It is a tough old orb. I shan't be too
unhappy. A man has a whole lot of things beside love in his life. I am
not going to let myself be such a fool as to be miserable because things
started out a little differently from what I would like to have them."
His smile was brave but his eyes belied the smile and Carlotta's heart
smote her.

"You will forget me," she said. It was half a reproach, half a command.

Again he shook his head in denial.