He hastened to her and caught both her hands; she murmured something, and he sank to his knee pressing his lips upon the hard brilliants hemming her gown. She turned slightly, he sprang to his feet clutching her lovely bare arm and drew her close. He whispered eagerly, passionately, and Alpha gazed at him dazed, fascinated—she realized her ideal, she had met her affinity. He led her to the forest of strange, tropical plants, whose branches housed hundreds of drowsy songsters drugged with the sweet, pungent odors from the voluptuously undulating fountain. These two will wander in this paradise of love, his arms clasped about her, whispering words of adoration while she listens intoxicated, wildly, deliriously happy, in her earthly heaven. I watched them pass down the moss-covered path till the thick foliage of strange spices hid them from view—then I realized. Numbed, chilled, I turned away, every thought swallowed in great physical pain, a hand of iron clutched my heart and wrung it dry as a sponge. I had a vague idea of falling, not suddenly, but gradually, easily; of many people hurrying to me; then Saxe. loomed above, and as in a dream, came the words: “Courage, courage, my boy; be a man. Help! help!” he shouted in tones that pierced my brain, then borne to me vividly, yet as though thousands of miles away: “Heavens! how the woman deceived us all!” and my last flickering thought before blank was she had deceived no one, least of all myself. In the garden, full length upon the lawn, the sweet, cool air revived me, but not for an instant had I lost consciousness. My friends were about me, anxious, grave; distinctly I heard Saxe. mutter: “We must get out of this and quick. Can’t have the boy carrying on this way.” I remained silent, rather comfortable than otherwise, dreamily wondering what the row was about; then, like a flash, I knew and a dull, heavy, sickening feeling gripped my whole mind. To escape the hell’s torment of memory I would have given life. Oblivion? yes; if I could never have realized. Now, God! All the little tantalizing delights, the sweet doubts vanishing in happy possession I was so sure of—all was over. Who could have foreseen such an end? The very peculiarities of this woman forbade such a finale. Instead, all would have expected this stately, high-souled, devout creature to renounce mankind, remaining true to her deity, secluded, to bask forever in the warm rays of the fiery god she worshipped. Oh, if I could have remembered her always as the Priestess of the Sun! To have renounced the wonderful, mystical being I discovered! I mourned for the beautiful ideal shattered by the woman, though fashioned by a master’s hand the delicate veneer revealed the commonplace at the first test—the idealist’s mist blinds all eyes. And she had done as the whole world of women have ever done—surrendered at the first flash of a pair of handsome eyes and sensitive red lips. Ah, Alpha! Alpha Centauri!