For a moment he was shaken. Then he answered the look straight out, as
was his nature.

"I never guessed," he said. "I did not presume to hope--now it is too
late! Listen! I will tell you what I have told no living soul, though
thereafter you may think me mad. Weak and humble as I am, I believe
myself to have received a Divine mission. I believe that I shall execute
it, or bring about its execution, but at the ultimate cost of my own
life. Still, in such a service two are better than one. If you--can care
enough--if you----"

But the lady had already turned away, and was murmuring her farewell in
accents that sounded like a sob. Love and faith after this sort were not
given to her.

Of all Owen's trials this was the sharpest. Of all his sacrifices this
was the most complete.



CHAPTER III

THE TEMPTATION

Two years have gone by all but a few months, and from the rectory in a
quiet English village we pass to a scene in Central, or South Central,
Africa.

On the brow of a grassy slope dotted over with mimosa thorns, and close