"You misunderstand," she said. "You see it sometimes happens that there is little real happiness, real union, where the wife is a believer in God, and the husband seeks--" "The devil," supplemented Kenneth. "I confess I have followed the devil to some extent." "Don't," she said. "It hurts me to the heart to hear you speak so. I meant to say if he had no sympathy with her spiritual life." "If I were a professing Christian, do you think you would care more for me?" "I might." "Suppose I pretended to be a Christian. Many make that pretense, and are accounted the real thing." "Dear Mr. Hastings, let me be a sincere and loyal friend to you, no more. Some day, I hope, you will win, in marriage, some rare woman who will make you happy." "Some rare woman? You are that one, Miss Bright. I want no other." "But you mustn't think of me, Mr. Hastings." "Do you know what you are, Miss Bright? You are an iceberg." She laughed. "That's fortunate. You will not long care for an iceberg. I will go soon, and you will forget me." He turned upon her. "Forget you? Do you really wish me to forget you?" Did she? She wondered. "No," she answered. Then over her face, lifted in the moonlight, he saw the color come. Their talk drifted to many subjects touching the life in Gila, and the larger world outside, to which she was soon to return. "Will you write to me?" he asked. "That would make it harder for you to forget," she said, naïvely. "I do not wish to forget," he said gloomily. "Why should I forget the happiest hours I have ever spent?" Why should he? Back at Clayton Ranch, an older pair of lovers, married lovers, walked up and down the veranda in the moonlight. "John," a soft voice was saying, "I just hope Kenneth will propose to Miss Bright to-night." He laughed. "You women! Always interested in a love story! How do you know Kenneth hasn't proposed to her already?" "I don't believe he has." Another silence. "John?" "Yes, Mary." "Does Miss Bright know what a vast fortune Kenneth has inherited?" "No. Not unless you have told her. He does not wish her to know." "But, John, that might influence Miss Bright's decision. You know these Americans care a great deal for money." "For shame, Mary, to think such a thing of her! Perhaps you do not know that her grandfather is a man of affluence. But he believes in the simple life, and lives it. She belongs to a fine old family, people of distinction, and wealth." "Is that true, John? She never told me. How can she work like a galley slave here?" "Because she is a great woman." Silence again. "With her mind, and heart, and passion for service, and Kenneth's intellect, and force of character, and vast wealth, they might be a tremendous force for the progress of the human race." "Can't you help matters on, John? I'm so afraid Miss Bright will reject Kenneth, and leave us." "Well, if she does, I shall be sorry. But we must keep hands off."