Then the four walls of his room fell away. He stretched out his arms, his eyes kindled, he tore away the bandage from before them. No more hypocrisy! The madness which had become the joy of his life was stealing through all his veins, his heart beat fiercely with the delight of it. He pitted his common sense against what he had deemed a fantasy, and his common sense vanished like smoke, and the fantasy became a real living thing. She was as far above him as the stars--a delicately nurtured woman, with all the grace and beauty of her order--he was a mechanic of humble origin, ignorant of the ways of her world, of the world to which she must forever belong. What matter? He was a man, after all, and she was a woman--and there was the golden key. It was in his hands, and who in the universe had ever been able to set a limit upon its powers? With her own lips he had heard her murmur, half in jest and half in earnest, her adoration of it. His common sense mocked at him but the madness was there like a thrall. He walked over to the vicarage, where he had spent so many hours of late. She was out. He waited. When he heard her carriage stop, the trailing of her skirt as she crossed the lawn, he rose up and went to meet her. "John leads a lonely life out here," she said presently. "I hope you will remember that, and come and see him often when I am gone." He looked up at her quickly. His heart had stopped beating. "Are you going away?" he asked. She smiled. "Don't you think that I have paid rather a long visit as it is?" she asked. "I have two houses of my own I am supposed to look after, and I had no end of engagements for last month and this. As a matter of fact, this is the longest visit I have ever paid here in my life." "The longest visit you have ever paid here?" he repeated. "Perhaps that is because you have had more friends staying near?" She looked into his eyes and laughed softly. Strone felt the hot color burn his cheeks. Something had happened! She was changed. The tired woman of the world had gone. She was not bored, she was not listless any longer. She was looking at him very kindly, and her eyes were wonderfully soft. "Perhaps I have found one more," she said, smiling, "and have been content to be without the others. Let go my hands, sir, at once." She drew a little away from him. His brain was in a whirl. He was scarcely sure of his sanity. Then: "Will you sit down for a few minutes?" he asked. "There is something I want to say to you." She paused. "I am a little tired," she said. "Will another time do?" "No," he answered. "I am going away early to-morrow." She followed him without comment to the seat under the cedar tree. She leaned back and half closed her eyes. She was certainly a little pale. "Well?" "I have seen Dobell to-day." "Your employer?" "Yes. At least he was my employer. He is to be my partner." She opened her eyes and looked at him now with languid curiosity.