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He looked at her blankly, and as his lips twitched and moved she barely heard, “And I did n’t–I barely kept myself from doing it, because it seemed unworthy–“

She shrugged her shoulders and interrupted him, in a tone as low as his. “We who are strong can be taken only by a strength that is greater than ours.”

“Good-bye,” he said, rising. “Either my love was not quite great enough, or my strength was too great. I will send the porter to carry your bags and help you to find your section in the other train. I shall stay here until to-morrow. Good-bye.”

His voice was very tender as he spoke the last word. She held out her hand, and he touched it with his lips. She pressed both hands upon her heart, which seemed bursting with cross-currents of feeling and desire. He was halfway down the aisle when she sprang to her feet and called to him to stop, to come back. He turned and saw her slowly take a step or two toward him. The intent gaze which he bent upon her wavered for an instant, and then she saw his lips grow tense and white.

“No,” he said deliberately, “I shall not come back. I do not want a wife who would bring to me any less than the greatest love of which she is capable. Good-bye, Dr. Black.”

He was gone, and Elizabeth, sinking back into her seat, saw him walk away into the hills. The tears gathered in her eyes. She watched him as his figure disappeared among the twilight shadows.

“I wonder if it would have been different–it might have been different,” she was thinking, “if he–he had been–as he was this afternoon.” She mused a little longer and then her face brightened as she rose with a triumphant lifting of her head and a half-smile on her face. “And anyway,” she said aloud, “he has my address!”