And at last the door of the little room opened and Pearl and Anthony came out. They did not appear at all surprised to find the room empty. They would not have been surprised to find the universe empty--to hear phantom newsboys calling an extra announcing that no one existed but themselves--"Rumor confirmed that only Pearl and Anthony Exist." Pearl looked about her with that beautiful starry blankness that certain emotions bring to any human countenance--a thousand times starrier than ever before. "I wonder," she said, without the slightest trace of real interest, "what has happened." "Haven't you been listening to me," said Anthony. "A miracle has happened--we have fallen in love." Nevertheless he understood her meaning; and just to please her he walked to the door and glanced into the corridor. It was as essentially empty as the room. Then as he returned to her, although she was staring in the opposite direction and he made not the slightest sound on the thick rug, she turned her face slowly up and over her shoulder, and met his lips with hers. Nor did either of them mention this as a miracle or even an example of uncharted psychic powers. It was a long kiss; an inexperienced onlooker might have thought it a quiet ritual rather than a manifestation of human passion. When it was over, they stood once more in complete silence. Then Pearl said: "I think we ought to go back to our sister's house." "I suppose so," said Anthony. And again by an apparently mystical understanding they moved not across the lawn toward Mrs. Conway's house, but out across the dunes toward the beach. There was no moon, but the milky way like a narrow cloud rose straight out of the sea, and the Scorpion was brightly festooned above the southern horizon. +-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+