He entered, and, tossing a bunch of violets to the table, came to her, and, taking her in his arms, buried his face in the cloudy, dark hair that had always tempted him. Presently he said: "I should have been here earlier, sweetheart, for I thought you would be lonely after your people's departure." (She looked gratefully at him.) "But Jim kept me; yes, he has broken loose again, and though I had someone take him home and look after him, I was so doubtful of his being able to play to-night that I gave his small part to an understudy, and that all took time." "How good you are to that poor, worthless fellow! I don't believe any other man in the world would be so generous and so patient as you are." But Thrall said quickly, almost sharply: "Don't--don't say that!" and turned away his face, while Sybil continued: "But actors are so queer--actresses, too. They will hide malice under compliments; they will deliver innuendoes in a jest; they will make most injurious statements about one another; but let one of them be stricken down with sickness or trouble and every hand goes instantly into the pocket, even if it is already nearly empty, and the only feeling is sympathy, the only thought relief for the unfortunate. You are a generous people, Stewart!" "_You?_" he repeated, pointedly. And she laughed, and answered: "Oh, well! _we_ are generous--is that better?" "Yes!--much!" he answered, and knelt at her feet. "What are you doing there?" she asked. "One kneels to a queen!" replied he. She laughed, and flushed a little. She had become actress enough to send out early for her papers. "And," he added, "particularly when one wishes to make an offering. This is an anniversary, beloved!" Her color fled, for that was the one unsympathetic note that had ever sounded between them. She did not understand him in that one respect. To her it seemed almost indelicate to remind her of that day when she had forgiven. She was to understand him later; but now he saw the shadow on her face, and his interpretation was, she "regrets her generosity," and all his love shone appealing in his eyes as he took her hand, and, whispering, "In memory of your mercy, beloved," slipped a great ring upon her finger. She glanced down at it, and a startled cry came from her lips. It was an opal--a marvel! a very wonder! It was not merely the play of color through the soft, milky translucence, the ghost of blue, the vivid flecks of green, the pale rose deepening into flashes of ruby red, the amber glow, but it was the strange quiver and throb in it that made it seem alive--uncanny! She looked at him questioningly. "Did he not know, then," she asked herself, "the superstition attached to this noblest, most fascinating gem, that he offered it as a love gift?"