, 1910-03-10

and worthy of any mans affection!"
She bent closer toward him In the
Intensity of her feelings. The words
from her. The man passed his
over his forehead.
81 can only say what l said before.
that / love you still, that I will marry
you. and that you ought to be"
That is enough" interrupted h
woman. "Good-by."
She drew instantly apart from him.
mfr. Charnock," rang the captains
voice, imperatively.
Slowly the islander turned and made
his way to the sea after the others.
The thus left alone upon
the island. was face to face with a
crisis which could only be met in two
ways. Either she must go away with
the man, or they must both remain on
the island. II was possible that the
captain might be induced TO use force
to take the man away, but that was
not likely. and II 1t were attempted,
she believed, with much foundation
for her belief. that the man who had
never been coerced by a human being
except her would fight until he died.
She could 20 go away with him; she
could not live with him on the island.
A future opened before him. She
had learned that afternoon on the sand
that II his identity could be estab-
lished he would be a man OF great
wealth, a power, a factor In the
worlds affairs. She had had her ex-
~perience in life, her taste of power. 1t
did not matter about her. 1t mattered
greatly about him.
She had given him a final chance.
He did not love her as she would be
loved. He could not love her. 1t was
evident I o her that he never would.
She had nothing to live for. nothing
to hope for. nothing to dream about.
There was one way OF cutting the
Gordian knot: she could die. And yet,
somehow, the instinct of life was
strong in her heart.
She crossed the island to ner side,
where she was hidden from the ship,
and went down to the edge of the wa.
ter. She even slipped off the garments
of civilization and stood forth a print
tive Eve and waded out a little way
into the lagoon. The night had fallen
and she was calm in the screen of the
darkness. She could easily swim out
to the barrier reef. Chamber upon 1t.
and then plunge into the blue Pacific
and swim or and on, n fight and
fight until the last vestige of her
strength was gone, and then sink
down, leaving him free and settling
the question. And yet the waters lap
ping about her feet held her back,
advance.
Could she do It? Should she do TT
AT least she would not give up the
idea for want of trying. She resolute
ly set herself to wade into the deep
er sea. That she waded was evil
dence of her indecision. Under other
circumstances, or had she been clear
in her min as to her course, a quick
run, a spring, a splash. and she would
have been in the midst of the lagoon.
She went slowly. and as the water
gre deeper, she went more slowly.
1t was warm n pleasant in the la
COON. The slight difference of TEN
p%erature between the water and the
air ordinarily was only stimulating.
And yet the sea had never seemed so
cold to her as 1t was in that hour.
She vas young. strong. splendidly
lowered with health and bodily vigor.
The mere animal clinging to life was
intense in her. 1t does not minimize
her heartbreak or her resolution to
settle the question hat she found 1t
hard to go IN. BY and by she stopped,
the waters now up to her breast. The
wind blew gently toward the land, and
he waves struck her softly and beat
her back. She stopped lead still and
thought and thought, wrestling with
her problem, full of passionate disap-
pointment, vain regret, despair, con-
scious that life held nothing for her,
and yet clinging to 1t. unknowing what
would be the outcome of the Titanic
struggle raging in her breast between
primal passions, love of life and love
of man!