The girl was clothed in a loose flowing robe of dazzling white, which was fastened at the breast by a brooch in which shone a luminous transparent stone similar to the one which Sydney had described as worn at Aphar by the high priestess; but notwithstanding the test of such a contrast, her complexion looked more pure, more ethereal than it is possible to conceive in any setting. It seemed as though alabaster had been faintly tinted with the pearly shade of the most delicate rose-leaf. As she came forward each movement told of perfectly developed bodily strength and graceful power, while the clear brightness of her deep blue eyes and the warm colour of her lips showed how health alone can give the true finish without which the most perfect beauty is marred, or for the time partially lost. Yet with all her charm of attraction she seemed as unconscious of the effect produced by her as though she were still a little child. She came up to me with both her hands held out, and taking one of mine into each of hers, looked up with a bright smile into my face. "Perhaps you think," she said, "that I have forgotten you; but if so you are mistaken. It is ten years ago, and I was only seven then, but Alan has taken care to keep my memory fresh, and sometimes he has let me see you." "But why," I said, "should you want to see me? You cannot possibly care about such an old selfish being." "Of course I care," she answered; "are you not his friend? And whom he cares for, I care for; whom he loves, I love." As she said this she looked at Sydney, and I saw for the first time the expression of true, pure, and perfect love. We had talked for some time on various subjects, when Vera turned to me and said-- "You already know much of my past, a knowledge which has only recently been revealed to me. But there is much still that you do not know because he who told you was the man who loved me. Nor is it necessary for me to bring before you further scenes of humiliation, when I wandered blindly in the path of disorder and pain, ever refusing the guiding light of love held out to me. But," she continued, getting up and kneeling beside Sydney, "before we go, before we enter into the glorious life of joy, to the threshold of which my love at length has guided me, I should like to give you some idea of my feeling toward the man who has thus through pain and trial, with no return save the basest ingratitude, ever been faithful to one so unworthy of his devotion." As she said this she looked up into the face of her lover, and drawing him down to her, kissed him on the lips.