He had a sudden sensation of heat in his face as he passed the chasm between the withdrawal of Dan and Biddy from the firm and his solution of the amalgam. He did not care to dwell upon that, because Eldred had sued him to recover his stock, claiming that it was bought in under false pretenses. Neither did he care to enter into the stormy time which followed the sudden leap of "The Witch" from a haunted hole in the ground to a cave of diamonds. He hurried on to the end while she listened in absorbed interest like a child to a wonder story. She sighed in the world-old manner of women and said: "And I--I have done nothing worth telling. I ruined my health by careless living at school, and here I am, a cumberer of the earth." Some men would have hastened to be complimentary, but Clement remained silent. He was trying to understand her mood that he might meet it in a helpful way. "But if I am permitted to live I shall be different. I will do something." "First of all, get well," he said, and his words had the force of a command. "Give me your hand." She complied, and he took it in a firm clasp. "Now I want you to promise me you'll turn your mind from darkness to the light, from the canons to the peaks--that you will determine to live. Do you promise?" "I promise." "Very well. I shall see that you keep that promise." CHAPTER II It was rather curious to see that as she grew in strength Clement lost in assertiveness--in his feeling of command. He began to comprehend that with returning health the girl was not altogether pitiable. She had culture, social position and wealth. The distinction of his readily-acquired millions grew to be a very poor possession in his own mind--in fact, he came at last to such self-confessed utter poverty of mind and body that he wondered at her continued toleration. He ceased to plead any special worthiness on his own part and began to throw himself on her mercy. As the time came on when she no longer needed his arm for support he found it hard to offer it as an act of gallantry. In fact, in that small act was typified the change which he came ultimately to assume. At first she had seemed to him like an angelic child. Death's shadows had made him bold--but now he could not deceive himself: he was coming to love her in a very human and definite fashion. He dared not refer to the past in any way, and his visits grew more and more formal and carefully accounted for. She thought she understood all this, and was serenely untroubled by it. She brooded over the problem with dreamful lips and half-shut eyes. She was drifting back to life on a current of mountain air companioned by splendid clouds, and her content was like to the lotus-eater's languor--it held no thought of time or tide.