some one to help you. And Ridgeley won't help. Anne, let me do it. Let
me take you away from here ... away from Ridgeley. We will go where we
can hear the temple bells. We'll ride through the desert ... we'll set
our sails for strange harbors. We'll love until we forget everything,
but the day, the hour,--the moment! And when the time comes for endless
dreams...."

"Christopher...."

"Anne, listen."

"You mustn't say things like that to me ... you must not...!"

"I must. I want you to have happiness. We'll crowd more in to a few
short months than some people have in a lifetime. And you have a right
to it."

"Would it be happiness?"

"Why not? In a way we are all pushing death ahead of us. Who knows that
he will be alive to-morrow? There's this arm of mine ... there's every
chance that I'll have trouble with it. And an automobile accident may
wreck a honeymoon. You've as much time as thousands who are counting on
more."

The lightning flashed and showed the birches writhing.

"But afterward, Christopher, _afterward_...?"

"Well, if it is Heaven, we'll have each other. And if it is Hell ...