“The most wonderful letter I ever received,” he exclaimed. “The longest, the richest, the deepest--the answering call of my mate! In all nature there’s no such cry. From out the shadows of hell I lift my soul and answer, ‘My love, I come!’” In a moment he had forgotten every fear; and all the pain, blind and hideous, of the last three days was lost in a joy that lit the world with splendour. He called immediately on horseback and asked her to ride with him through a beautiful wooded road he had long wished to show her. Stella caught the echo of his horse’s hoofs with a shudder as he approached the house. She had not heard that sound on the gravelled roadway of the lawn since the night she listened to the distant echoes of the masqueraders as she stood beside the dead. She accepted his suggestion and hastily despatched a message to Ackerman asking that he await her return in her library at sundown as she intended to spend the afternoon in the country on important business. At three o’clock they galloped out of Independence toward the river. “My heart is too full now for speech,” he said, leaning toward her, his face radiant with happiness. “I understand.” “Just to be near you is all I ask for a while. It seems too good to be true. It has been a century since I saw you.” She remained silent. The only visible response, if any, was the quickening of her horse’s pace at the unconscious touch of the little spur concealed beneath her skirts. Her silence meant to him feelings too deep for words, and again his heart sang for joy. Four miles out of town they left the main highway and turned into the narrow crooked road which wound along the banks of a creek through the densest forest in the county. “I’m going to take you to ‘Inwood,’ General Gaston’s place. The house was burned by Sherman’s army, only the vine-covered ruins are standing now. It was the finest house ever built in the state, and many a gay party held high carnival there in the old days.” “I’ve heard my mother speak of it,” she answered soberly, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. “In fact, it was there at a picnic one day that my father proposed to his sweetheart and my mother accepted him, and planned their elopement. How strange that you should have chosen to bring me to this place to-day!” “You’ll understand it later,” he quickly responded. “I hope you don’t mean to kidnap me?” “It might be advisable in view of the events of the past three days,” he laughed. She glanced about her at the deep shadows of the great trees through which they had been passing for more than a mile and shot at him a sudden look of fear. “Let’s turn back,” she said, flushing and reining her horse to a stand. A look of pain clouded his face as he bent near. “Surely, dearest, you can trust the man who worships you! Come, we are only a few hundred yards from the gate.” “Then I’ll trust you that much further,” she said with a light laugh, spurring her horse forward.