I found Natalie standing on the high rock whence the most lovely view of the dell could be obtained, and as I approached her silently she was not aware of my presence until I laid my hand on her shoulder. "Natalie," I said wistfully, for the girl's eyes were full of tears, "do you mind if I withdraw now from this enterprise, in which I cannot be of the slightest use, and of which I most heartily disapprove?" "The Society would not allow you to withdraw. You cannot do so without its permission, and hope to live within a thousand miles of it," she answered gravely. "I should not care to live within ten thousand miles of it. I should try to get and keep the earth's diameter between myself and it." She looked up with an expression of such pain that my heart smote me. "How about me? I cannot live without you now," she said softly. "Don't live without me. Come with me. Get rid of this infamous association of lunatics, whose object they themselves cannot really appreciate, and whose means are murder--" But there she stopped me. "My brother could find me out at the uttermost ends of the earth if I forsook him, and you know I do not mean to forsake him. For yourself--do not try to desert. It would make no difference. Do not believe that any consideration would cause me willingly to give you a moment's pain, or that I should shrink from sacrificing myself to save you." With one of her small white hands she gently pressed my head towards her. Her lips touched my forehead, and she whispered: "Do not leave me. It will soon be over now. I--I--need you." As I was returning dejected after my fruitless appeal to Natalie, I met Edith Metford, to whom I had unhappily mentioned my proposal for an escape. "Is it arranged? When do we start?" she asked eagerly. "It is not arranged, and we do not start," I answered in despair. "You told me you would go with her or without her," she cried passionately. "It is shameful--unmanly." "It is certainly both if I really said what you tell me. I was not myself at the moment, and my tongue must have slandered me. I stay to the end. But you will go. Captain Anderson will receive you--" "How am I to be certain of that?" "I paid him for your passage, and have his receipt." "And you really think I would go and leave--leave--" "Natalie? I think you would be perfectly justified." At this the girl stamped her foot passionately on the ground and burst into tears. Nor would she permit any of the slight caresses I offered. I thought her old caprices were returning. She flung my arm rudely from her and left me bewildered. CHAPTER XVII. "THIS EARTH SHALL DIE."