"Then I must go now," he said, rising and lifting from the seat. "I've said enough to-night. I'll go bef I say too much and break the spell that holds me."

On the porch he asked:

"I may come again to-morrow?”

"Yes, at eight.”

He bowed and kissed the tips of her fingers.

"I may have something to say to you to-morrow," s said seriously.

"I shall count the minutes that separates us " whispered.

She watched the tall figure pass joyously along th white graveled walk.

"I've won-I've won, beyond the shadow of a doubt. she cried.

C

CHAPTER XXX

THE TEST

LAUDIA sat before her mirror and studied her

self with a growing feeling of depression. She had

not slept well. The thing that spoiled her night's rest was the sense of extraordinary happiness that lingered after Craig's departure. She had surprised herself in the act of joyfully receiving his love. She had told herself that her happiness with him was merely the thrill of the hunter in sight of game.

. Yet it did not explain the glow that lingered when he had gone. It puzzled and angered her. And yet, she argued, what could be more natural? Every girl rejoices in conquest. It is the normal expression of youth and beauty come into the consciousness of power. In spite of all explanations the scene of his first mad avowal lingered and brought a smile to her lips and a flash of light to her eyes.

The feeling of reaction horribly depressed her. The warmth and tenderness of his love with its boyish extravagance of words persisted, a haunting memory. A sense of loneliness crept into her heart. She was playing a desperate game. Its possible tragedy began to be felt. She stood staring idly at the gowns she had piled on the big tester bed without being able to make a selection.

The closer she had drawn to Craig in their daily life the more impossible seemed the idea that he could have murdered her father or known of such a crime. And yet closer each day drew the net of circumstantial evidence

about him and fiercer grew her determination to demand justice.

What surprised her most of all in his character was the spirit of youth within him-youth strong, fresh, buoyant and throbbing with ideals. It was inconsistent with the idea of crime. At first she had thought him somber and morose, yet now she could not imagine him more than twenty-two. In many of his ways and moods she found him more boy than man. And she must acknowledge the truth—she had begun to think of his possible death as a criminal with a pang of regret.

She rose and studied her figure in the mirror until self and pride once more touched her lips with a little cruel smile.

He found her in an illusive mood. When he begged her to remember her parting words, the half-pledged promise of a message for which he waited, she laughed and fenced.

She allowed him to call each afternoon and evening for a week until the sense of personal intimacy and comradeship had made his will obedient to her slightest whim. It amused her to watch the growth of his powers of intuition, born of this daily life, which enabled him to anticipate her wishes. In her heart had grown a fierce joy in the tyranny she wielded over him.

Toward the end of the week he began to beg for a word of love. She promised him an answer on the evening following, and forbade his afternoon call. She knew well the effect of his longer absence. At last she was sure that the hour had come toward which she had moved with such pains, the hour of surrender and utter trust, when she had but to breathe her wish to know the guarded secrets of the Klan and they would be whispered without hesitation.

She again selected the low-cut white chiffon she wore the night he had declared his love.

Maggie's keen eyes watched her dress with unusual care. The little black maid flashed her white teeth more than once behind her back as she observed the sure art with which, by a touch here and there, her mistress managed to suggest the charms of her beauty. When the task was finished and she surveyed herself in the mirror with a look of content, Maggie laughed.

"You sho' is tryin' ter kill 'im to-night!"

"Maggie, how dare you say such a thing?”

"De Lawd a-mussy, Miss Claudy, I des mean dat you'se de purtiest thing in de worl' an' he gwine drap dead quick as he sees ye!"

"That will do, Maggie," she said severely.

"Yassum."

But in spite of her severity, the mistress smiled at the maid, and Maggie burst into a fit of laughter. When at length it subsided, she stood with worshipful eyes, gazing.

“Ef I could look lak dat, Miss Claudy, I'd let 'em bile me in ile, roast me on a red-hot stove an' peel me!"

"You are breaking the Ten Commandments, Maggie.' "Yassum, I'd bust a hundred commandments ef I could look lak you."

"I accept the compliment if I can't your morals." "Yassum."

A flash of lightning revealed the clouds of an approaching storm.

Claudia frowned.

"It's going to storm," she said fretfully.

"Yassum, but he'll come."

The mistress laughed in spite of herself.

"I'm not worrying about his coming, Maggie."

“Nobum, you needn't worry. He swim er river ef he couldn't git here no odder way-dar he is now!"

His familiar knock echoed through the hall and the maid hastened to open the door. When Claudia stood before him he seized her hands and looked into her eyes with rapture.

"How glorious you are to-night!" he whispered.

She made no answer save the sensitive smile of triumph which lighted her face, but after a pause said:

"I meant to find a seat on the lawn to-night, but it's going to rain.”

"Yes, I ran to get here first," he cried with enthusiasm. "It's raining now, but the old davenport under the stairs is cozy on a rainy night."

She looked at the panel door and hesitated.

"You're not afraid of ghosts from below, I hope?" he laughed.

"No, I've locked the iron door," she announced soberly, taking her seat by his side.

With a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a crash of thunder, the storm broke, big raindrops mixed with hail rattling furiously against the windows. She drew closer to his side and he turned his swarthy, eager face toward her.

"Now while the storm roars," he whispered, "and shuts out the world, drawing us so close that there is no world beyond your hand and voice-won't you tell me?”

"Do you realize what it means for a girl to say to a man, 'I love you'?" she asked slowly.

"I do," was the quick answer.

"In all its depths?"

"It means the full surrender of soul and body or it means nothing"

"And yet you ask that I say it?"