impressing upon it the stamp of your alien mind."

"Ethel," he protested, "you are unjust. If you knew--" Then an idea
seemed to take hold of him. He looked at her curiously.

"What if I knew?" she asked.

"You shall know," he said, simply. "Are you strong?"

"Strong to withstand anything at your hand. There is nothing that you
can give me, nothing that you can take away."

"No," he remarked, "nothing. Yes, you have changed. Still, when I look
upon you, the ghosts of the past seem to rise like live things."

"We both have changed. We meet now upon equal grounds. You are no
longer the idol I made of you."

"Don't you think that to the idol this might be a relief, not a
humiliation? It is a terrible torture to sit in state with lips
eternally shut. Sometimes there comes over the most reticent of us a
desire to break through the eternal loneliness that surrounds the soul.
It is this feeling that prompts madmen to tear off their clothes and
exhibit their nakedness in the market-place. It's madness on my part, or
a whim, or I don't know what; but it pleases me that you should know the
truth."

"You promised me long ago that I should."

"To-day I will redeem my promise, and I will tell you another thing that