“Which it is,” said Max.  “Get outside it all.  Get above it if you can.  And you will see.  Come, you mustn’t grizzle.  You don’t seriously suppose you’ve lost anything, do you?” He looked down at her suddenly, with a smile in his shrewd eyes.  “I say, you must get rid of that idea,” he said.  “Even I know better than that.  I believe in my own way I was almost as fond of him as you were.  But I knew he was going long ago, and that nothing on earth could stop him.  He knew it too.  Between ourselves, I don’t think he much wanted to stop.  But there was nothing unwholesome about him.  He wasn’t a shirker.  He played the game.  And now you’re going to play it, eh?  You’re going to buck up.  You’re going to give Trevor a sample of what the Wyndhams can do.  I know we’re a rotten tribe, but we’ve got our points.  In Heaven’s name, let’s make the most of ’em!”

He bent abruptly and kissed her.

“Life’s all right,” he said.  “And so’s the world.  But you’ve got to get used to the idea that it’s not a place to stay in.  It’s no good sitting down by the wayside to cry.  You’ve got to look on ahead and keep moving.  It’s the only possible way.  If you don’t, you get buried in every sand-storm.”

Chris reached up her arms and clasped him very tightly.  “Max, tell me Love doesn’t die!”

“It doesn’t,” said Max stoutly.

“You are sure?  You are sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.”

“How do you know?  Tell me—­tell me!”

Chris’s voice was piteous.  Yet for a moment he was silent.  Then, “I know,” he said, “by the way that chap faced death.”

“Because he wasn’t afraid?” she whispered.  “Because he died so easily?”

“Because he didn’t die,” said Max.

* * * * *

Late that night the clouds passed, and a new moon rose behind the fortress and threw a golden shimmer over the sea.  The waves were washing over the rocks with a deep, mysterious murmuring.  To Chris, kneeling at her window, it was as if they were trying to tell her a secret.  She had knelt down to pray, but her thoughts had wandered, and somehow she could not call them back.  Almost in spite of herself, she went in spirit over the rocks till she came to the Magic Cave.  And here she would have entered, but could not, for the tide was rising and barred her out.

“Not there, mignonne,” said a soft voice at her side.

She turned her head.  Surely he had spoken in the stillness!  Surely it was no dream!

But the action brought her back, back to the shadowy room, and the moonlit sea, and the prayer that was still little more than a vague longing in her heart.

She uttered a brief sigh, and rose.  And in that moment she found herself face to face with her husband.

“Trevor!” she said, startled.

He was standing close to her, and suddenly she knew that he had been there for some time, waiting for her to rise.