could not touch her! ... Nothing apparently divided them, save a
small breadth of the Ardath blossoms gleaming ivory-soft in the
moonlight ... nevertheless that invincible influence thrust him
back and held him fast, as though he were chained to the ground
with weights of iron!

"Edris!". he cried loudly, his former transport of delight changed
into agony.. "Edris! ... Come to me! I cannot come to you! What is
this that parts us?"

"Death!" she answered.. and the solemn word seemed to toll slowly
through the still air like a knell.

He stood bewildered and dismayed. Death! What could she mean? What
in the name of all her beautiful, delicate, glowing youth, had she
to do with death? Gazing at her in mute wonder, he saw her stoop
and gather one flower from the clusters growing thickly around
her--she held it shieldwise against her breast, where it shone
like a large white jewel, and regarded him with sweet, wistful
eyes full of a mournful longing.

"Death lies between us, my Beloved!" she continued--"One line of
shadow ... only one little line! But thou mayest not pass it, save
when God commands,--and I--I cannot! For I know naught of death, . .
save that it is a heavy dreamless sleep allotted to over-wearied
mortals, wherein they gain brief rest 'twixt many lives,--lives
that, like recurring dawns, rouse them anew to labor. How often
hast thou slept thus, my Theos, and forgotten me!"

She paused, ... and Alwyn met her clear, steadfast looks with a