Something in Mrs. Porter's loving look and wistful eyes caused the speaker to change his tone. "I won't fence with you, Maud. I told you once I loved Linda. I did, with a depth which seemed to exhaust my power of loving. It's true that one doesn't feel a pin-prick when at the same moment he is struck a mortal blow. The fatal fact was not that Linda blamed me for the sorrow that had fallen upon her. It was that there was no desire on her part to give me a chance: to hear my side of the story: none of the extenuation which one ray of love would have naturally expressed. Instead, there was hatred in her eyes. That was the only thing that mattered." King leaned back against the rock, breathing fast. "I tell you this, Maud. You're the only person in the world who will know it, and we won't speak of it again. I know Linda so well. I know how this revulsion of feeling would express itself with her. She would like to come over here and wait on me by inches. My wish would be her law; but that would matter no more than her mistake about the Antlers. The essential fact has been revealed, and--nothing else matters." "Is your present feeling for her dislike, then?" asked Mrs. Porter. "Certainly not." "It would be no pain to you to meet her?" "It would be a bore," returned King gently. "Isn't that enough? Of course, it will have to come some day; but I've been a good deal indulged lately, and I believe in putting off an evil day. I should like Linda to have worked off some of her repentant steam before we meet." King, his self-possession regained, smiled again into his companion's face. "Whitcomb is devoted to her. Let her work it off on him," he added. "She will never marry him," said Mrs. Porter. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," was the polite response. Mrs. Porter leaned toward her companion with her broad, charming smile. "Bertram King, that's a lie," she remarked slowly. He winked and lifted his eyebrows. "There's a lot for you to learn about love," she went on. "To love unselfishly is the best thing that can happen to anybody." "There's no such thing as unselfish love," declared King. "Oh, yes there is, and you proved that you experienced it. You put Linda's happiness above your own. You willingly endured injustice to mitigate her pain. Don't you know that your nature was enriched by that? Don't you know that your action, now that she understands it, reflects upon her, and uplifts her nature and her ideals? We can't crystallize, because we're the children of God; and God is Infinite Love, and Love is a divine principle which is ever active. You assume too much when you hold Linda to the narrow development of her school-girl days. You can remain behind your human defenses and refuse to forgive her if you choose--" "I told you, and honestly, that I have nothing to forgive."