weeks I felt about him as I suppose you do now. I know him better now,
and I have changed my mind. He is unique, absolutely unique! Do you think
that I could have existed here for nearly two months without him?"

"May I inquire," Borrowdean asked, blandly, "how much longer you intend
to exist here with him?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"All my days--perhaps! He and this place together are an anchorage. Look
at me! Am I not a different woman? I know you too well, my dear Leslie,
to attempt your conversion, but I can assure you that I am--very nearly
in earnest!"

"You interest me amazingly," he remarked, smiling. "May I ask, does
Mannering know you as Mrs. Handsell only?"

"Of course!"

"This," he continued, "is not the Garden of Eden. I may be the first, but
others will come who will surely recognize you."

"I must risk it," she answered.

Borrowdean swung his eyeglass backwards and forwards. All the time he was
thinking intensely.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Very nearly two months," she answered. "Imagine it!"