"The journey would not suit me," she said, "neither would the company," and she threw a defiant look up at him; "think of me enduring the hardships which they say await pilgrims to the Radiant City; I should be frightened to death with it all. Besides," she added, with a spice of coquetry in her eyes, "the company would be dull." Amer looked down upon her with a mystified expression of face. "You do not love me enough then to be willing to leave all besides?" he asked. "Not if you go on this pilgrimage. Already I find you different to what you were before you heard the herald. You used to say then that you would follow me to the end of Punon, but now you wish me to follow you out of it, you do not love me as you used to do." In a minute Amer was on his knees beside her, telling her in passionate language that his love was even stronger than it used to be, that it was as strong as death. "Then," said Gabrielle, "prove it and give up these ridiculous fancies of yours. Why should you set yourself up as better than other people? Think of the many who have gone in for this business; you do not suppose that you are better than they?" "No," said Amer, "but I have heard the Voice." "Oh don't," she cried, "when you talk like that I am afraid of you." "Have you never heard it?" Gabrielle wrenched her hands from his and covered her pretty little ears with them. "No, no," she cried, "and I don't want to. If Punon is really doomed, there is still plenty of time. I will not hear the Voice; I could not endure the hardships." "But the King, I am told, takes care of all those who start on the journey, and at the end we shall see Him in His beauty." "There is no King and no Radiant City," exclaimed the girl petulantly, "no one believes in that story now; and you have not really heard a Voice; it is only in your imagination." "But I have heard the Voice," persisted Amer. "Oh don't," cried Gabrielle, "I begin to hate you when you say these things, we had better part, Amer. I could not have a husband who frightens me by his mad talk, and who insists upon taking me this long journey. I will not go, you must choose between the Radiant City of your dreams and me." "Must I then go alone?" Amer rose as he said these words, and stood looking down upon her with such tenderness in his face that Gabrielle repented of her hard words. "No," she said, stretching out her hands towards him, "you must not go alone, you must not go at all. I want you Amer, and cannot do without you; you must stay with me. You say you love me; love me enough then to forget the Radiant City and to stay and work for me; you will not, you cannot leave me." And standing there looking into her sweet eyes, which were now suffused with love, Amer felt that he could not leave her. "You shall be my Radiant City," he cried, "I will live and work for you." CHAPTER III. THE KING'S MARK.