Lewis could never remember that hour with Natalie except as a whole. Between the bursting of a dam and the moment when the pent-up waters stretch to their utmost level and peace there is no division of time. He knew only that it was like that with him. He had come in oppression, he had found peace. Then he looked up into Natalie's speaking face and knew that he had found more. He had found again his old pal. "A pal is one who can't do wrong who can't go wrong, who can't grow wrong." Who had said that? H lne--H lne, who, never having seen Natalie save with the inner vision, knew her for a friend. To Folly his body had cried, "Let us stay young together!" To Natalie his blood, his body, and his soul were ready to cry out, "Let us grow old together!" Natalie had not followed the turn of his emotion. She broke in upon his thought and brought him back. "I never talked to your dad, but--we knew each other, we liked each other." Lewis started. "That's funny," he said. "Is it?" said Natalie. "I suppose it sounds odd, but--" "No," interrupted Lewis, "that's not what I mean. It's odd because H lne said just the same thing about you. She said you were great friends--that women didn't have to know each other to be friends." "They don't have to know men to be friends, either," said Natalie, "unless--" "Unless what?" "Unless they love them. If they love them, they've got to know them through and through to be friends. Love twists a woman's vision. Lots of women are ruined because they can't wait to see through and through." "Why, Nat," said Lewis, "you're talking like dad. Dad never talks--talked--without turning on the light." "Doesn't he?" said Natalie. Lewis nodded. "There are people that think of dad as a bad man. He has told me so. But he wasn't bad to me or to H lne or Nelton or Old William, and we're the ones that knew him best." For a time they were silent, then Natalie said: "Lew, you're older than you ever were before. Is it just losing your dad?" Lewis shook his head. "No," he said, "it wasn't that. I finished growing up just after I got back to London. I'm not the only thing that has grown. My work--sometime I'll show you my work before and after. I wish I could have shown it to dad,--I wish I could have told him that I've said good-by to Folly." "Good-by to Folly?" cried Natalie, with a leap of the heart. Then her heart sank back. "You mean you've said good-by to foolishness, to childish things?" "Both," said Lewis. "Folly Delaires and childish things." "Why?" asked Natalie, shortly. "Because," said Lewis, "it was given me to see her through and through." "And now?" breathed Natalie, drawing slightly away from him lest he hear the thumping of her heart. Lewis turned his head and looked at her. The flush was back in her cheeks, her eyes were wide and staring far away, her moist lips were half open, and her bosom rose and fell in the long, halting swell of tremulous breath.