"But you'll come back. I'll make you come. Do you think I'll give you up for all the fathers in the world?"
"I don't want to give you up. But I don't want to think about marriage. Mother used to say that love for a woman is giving; for a man it is taking."
"All men are not like your father."
"How can a woman tell?"
"Well, at least I can tell you this, that there has never one instant been any one else, that however far you may go from me—you will always know that my heart is waiting."
She had no answer ready for him. Darkness was coming fast upon them. Back of them the day was gone. But toward the west and south the clouds had been swept away by a change of wind, and the sky was now one clear, unbroken stretch of chrysoprase.
And out of the sky dropped suddenly a harsh and thrilling cry.
Crispin jumped to his feet. "The wild geese are flying. Look, Hildegarde."
He drew her up beside him. The wind caught her cape, and it billowed out behind her. He swept it down with a strong arm and stood holding her steady. Etched black against the wide green expanse, the geese flew in wedge-like formation, a few laggards trailing in a whipcord behind. Steadily they passed, their strong wings bearing them on, their clamorous voices calling. It was a thing to lift the heart. To feed the soul. Up there in the infinite sky was a faith that carried those feathered things through miles of un-
