my fate will be decided.'

'I feel assured that you will not fail. You. could not speak as you
did last night and yet allow yourself to falter in purpose when the
task was once begun. What success may await you we cannot say; the
work will certainly be very difficult. Will it not ask a lifetime?'

'No less, if it is to have any lasting result.'

'Be glad, then. What happier thing can befall one than to have one's
life consecrated to a worthy end!'

He walked on in silence, then regarded her.

'Such words in such a voice would make any man strong. Yet I would
ask more from you. There is one thing I need to feel full confidence
in myself, and that is a woman's love. I have known for a long time
whose love it was that I must try to win. Can you give me what I
ask?'

The smile which touched his lips so seldom was on them now. He
showed no agitation, but the light of his eyes was very vivid as
they read her expression. Annabel had stayed her steps; for a moment
she looked troubled. His words were not unanticipated, but the
answer with which she was prepared was more difficult to utter than
she had thought it would be. It was the first time that a man had
spoken to her thus, and though in theory such a situation had always
seemed to her very simple, she could not now preserve her calm as
she wished. She felt the warmth of her blood, and could not at once
command her wonted voice. But when at length she succeeded in