The thrill of the new day, the glowing serenity of everything around him had their influence on Kingston. His emotions reached calmer, greater heights than before, above the reach of storms. His tongue was loosened for a moment. ‘We are above the world, Isabel,’ he said; ‘let us try to stay there.’ She looked at him, her smile touched with irony. ‘And yet,’ she answered, ‘you are going to lead me down into the valleys. Do you think one could always stay on the heights?’ ‘At least we have been there once in our lives,’ he replied. ‘How many people can honestly say that?’ ‘The valley is full of clouds and mists,’ said Isabel, peering down. ‘Death and horrors may lie below us.’ ‘We are going there together, Isabel. We shall always be together now. We cannot help it, even if we wanted to. Nothing can release us from each other.’ ‘Not even the deaths and horrors?’ asked Isabel slowly. ‘Why suppose that there will ever be any?’ ‘Oh, I am cold and cramped, perhaps; I am frightened of things all of a sudden. Even you and I will have each to go alone into the Valley of the Shadow, Kingston. You will not be able to go with me there, not even if we are to meet again on the other side. I am dreadfully afraid of death and dying. Life has suddenly become more lovely than ever. I love it and worship it. Come with me into life. But, even with you, I don’t like passing out of this warmth down into the mists and cold damps below there.’ ‘They will have disappeared by the time we get on to the lower flats,’ he answered. ‘Let us set off. They are thinning every minute.’