"What are you going to do?" she repeated.

"Why do you want to know? You've heard the truth."

She came down the bank and stood beside him so close that her hair,
loosened by the wind, was blown against his shoulder. She pressed
it back and gazed into his eyes. The inner glow had worn through at
last. She was all warmth, all flame now. She smiled with soft and
parted lips. "Do you think that was the truth of you, my dear," she
said, "_my_ truth of you? I have always seen you as you are. But"--she
drew a big breath, like a climber who has reached the height--"but--I
came to you, didn't I?"

Hugh's eyes widened, the pupils swallowing her light. "You--you came
to me? Not for Pete's sake?"

"Never for his sake."

"But, Bella--you laughed at me."

"Yes, once, for your poor folly in trying to be what you are not.
When have I ever laughed at what you are? It's what you are I've
loved, my dear, just what you are--a tormented child. Only be honest
with me, Hugh. Tell me what do you want: the moon now or--or all the
truth?"

"I want the truth--and the end," he said. "I'm going down the river."

She glanced at the flood as though it were a brook. "I am going with