closed her eyes. A new world! And she and Harry were in it together--and
alone.




CHAPTER XIV


The dawns rose, the suns set, after the avalanche as before, and Pearl
and Seagreave, alone in the cabin, isolated from the world of human
beings, took up their lives together, together and yet apart, in the
great, encompassing silence of this white and winter-locked world.

Winter-locked, yes, but all the mighty, unseen forces of Nature were set
toward spring. Nothing could stop or retard them now. Under sullen,
lowering skies; beneath the blasts which swept down from the peaks; in
spite of flying snow; unseen, unsuspected, in the darkness and stillness
and warmth of the earth, the transformation was going on. The tender,
young banners of green were almost ready for the decking of the trees,
and almost completed was the weaving of pink and blue and lavender
carpets of wild flowers for the hillsides.

And the spring that had arisen glorious in Pearl's heart when she had
realized that she and Harry were prisoners of the avalanche was still
resurgent. For the first day or two of their isolation she lived,
breathed, moved in the splendor of her heart's dream. It encompassed her
with the warmth and radiance of a flood of sunshine.

In spite of her protests and appeals, Seagreave would not permit her to