"I think it was a dream that made me," said Anstice very simply. "The thought of the poor neglected children had most weight with me. I dreamt that they were in an open boat helpless at the mercy of the waves, and calling out to me to rescue them." "I have wronged you," said Justin; "and I ask your forgiveness." "No," said Anstice quietly, "that is unnecessary. I have been thinking that I wronged you. I have taken different views of life since I came here, and I think that no two people ought to wed unless there is real love between them. It is binding two souls in chains; you, a man, ought to woo the wife of your choice, not be tied down by legal marriage to one for whom you have no liking, nor perhaps respect." "Don't talk like that." Justin's voice was almost sharp. "I respected you from the first day I saw you. And you must know that I've had more than a liking for you. Well, the long and short of it is, that we have started our married life all wrong, and we're going, I hope, to put it right. Anstice—" he dropped his masterful tone and became almost humble—"there is only one thing that will keep a man's life straight and pure, and that is faith in a woman. I've been without it these many years, and though I've steered away from some evils through natural distaste, I've given myself over to rancour and bitterness and selfishness. You've given me that faith again, Anstice. May God help me to profit by it." Anstice sat silent. Her eyes were misty, her hands clenched each other tightly, then after a moment she said: "It is faith in God, not in woman, that you need, Justin. Faulty, erring woman will let you down over and over again." "Well, all this has been simmering in my mind whilst I fished in Norway," Justin went on, "but through it and above it surged a great flood which has swept me to your feet. Right or wrong as our past has been, I can offer you all my heart's love, Anstice. I want you, not for what you have done, and are still doing for me, but for you yourself. And this, and this alone, has brought me home. I cannot live without you. I don't want to be like a polite stranger. I want to be your best beloved, as you are to me. Can you take me with all my selfishness and make a better man of me? We have been good comrades and friends; I want to be something truer and deeper. Have I taken you by surprise?" Anstice still looked away over the lake, but she turned her head at last, and her eyes sought his in wistful appeal. "Are you sure that your heart wants me, Justin?" "As sure as the sun above us," said Justin fervently, and then he put his arm around her, and drew her close to himself. "Have I really won you? Tell me with your own lips." "I have been yours for a long time," said Anstice. "Then why have you been so cold and cruel to me? Why did you not let me see a little of your heart?" Anstice shook her head, and smiled into his eyes.