"Would you? Would you?"

"Say the word!"

"You would sacrifice all--the Company--your
career--your Sitkans?"

"All--everything." His own voice shook with
more than passion, for even in that moment he
counted the cost, but he did not care.

But Concha detected that second break in his
voice, and turned her head sadly.

"You would not say that to-morrow. I hate my-
self that I made you say it now. I love you enough
to wait forever, but I have not the courage to hand
you over to your enemies."

"You are strangely far-sighted for a young girl."
And between admiration and pique, his ardor suf-
fered a chill.

"I am no longer a young girl. In these last days
it has seemed to me that secrets locked in my brain,
secrets of women long dead, but of whose essence I
am, have come forth to the light. I have suffered
in anticipation. My mind has flown--flown--I
have lived those two years until they are twenty,