face of Christina was shining down on Jan from out the gloom.

"You will mean it?" whispered Nicholas Snyders.

"May my soul pass from me and enter into Nicholas Snyders!" answered
Jan, replacing his empty glass upon the table. And the two stood
looking for a moment into one another's eyes.

And the high candles on the littered desk flickered and went out, as
though a breath had blown them, first one and then the other.

"I must be getting home," came the voice of Jan from the darkness.
"Why did you blow out the candles?"

"We can light them again from the fire," answered Nicholas. He did
not add that he had meant to ask that same question of Jan. He thrust
them among the glowing logs, first one and then the other; and the
shadows crept back into their corners.

"You will not stop and see Christina?" asked Nicholas.

"Not to-night," answered Jan.

"The paper that I signed," Nicholas reminded him--"you have it?"

"I had forgotten it," Jan answered.

The old man took it from the desk and handed it to him. Jan thrust it
into his pocket and went out. Nicholas bolted the door behind him and
returned to his desk; sat long there, his elbow resting on the open