Another period of staring into the flames on her part; then she cried passionately: “Oh, I don’t want to stay here alone and wait for Andy! And I’m afraid--afraid of what may happen to him! But if I must stay, it’s cruel of you to leave me in ignorance of what to expect. And I can’t even talk it over with Andy, it seems.” “No, he knows less about it than you do,” Shonto told her. “His parents and I have deceived him into thinking he has had heart trouble for years. And no one but his parents and I know the truth.” “Oh, that sounds terrible! You think I shouldn’t marry Andy, and yet--” “If Andy remains all right,” he cut in quickly, “there is no positive reason why you shouldn’t marry him. I think, however, that he is not the man for you--and it’s fair enough for me to make that statement for the simple reason that I’m convinced _I’m_ the man for you. I refuse to call to your mind any of Andy’s faults. I have enough of my own. If he has any, you must find them out for yourself. But I’ll make you marry me instead of him because you will see that I’m the man to make your life complete, and that you’re the woman to make mine complete. You don’t love Andy. I know you don’t. You merely think you do. His magnificent young manhood has carried you off your feet, and you’ve not gone deeper into the matter. Blind, physical love you have given him--but it will pass, Charmian. And that’s enough--positively all. We’ll turn in and try to forget it all for to-night. And to-morrow early I’m off to send Andy to you. I know you’ll care for him if--if he needs it. But if you believe in God, pray to him that he won’t! Good night. My bed is over there by the big oak. Call me if you need me for anything.” CHAPTER XX THE INTERIM OF DOUBTS CHARMIAN did not begin sobbing until, standing at the edge of the grove that surrounded the ruins of the ancient village, she saw a tiny speck moving slowly up the narrow trail which zigzagged along the sides of the cliffs from the Valley of Arcana. The moving speck was Dr. Shonto, and he was leaving her alone in a vast wilderness, filled with doubts and dread and loneliness and grave forebodings. She sank to the ground, laid her arms on a fallen tree, and drenched them with her tears. He had held her hand a long time in parting, smiling at her in his patient, benign way. His smile had been encouraging, though he had not told her to be brave. It was a compliment to her courage, she thought, that he had taken it for granted that she would be intrepid and had considered mere words of emboldenment as idle. He realized, she reasoned, that a girl who would set out to accomplish such an enormous task as hunting for an unexplored valley in an unmapped wilderness would have the bravery to meet with cheerfulness any unforeseen emergency that might arise.