"Why not?" demanded Kate. "In what better place could I make it?"
Beside the clamorous waterfall was a huge boulder squared almost as if the hand of a mason had shaped it. Kate stepped on it, before Wander could prevent her, and stood laughing back at him, the wind blowing her garments about her and lifting strands of her loosened hair.
"I declare my freedom!" she cried with grandiose mockery. "Freedom to think my own thoughts, preach my own creeds, do my own work, and make the sacrifices of my own choosing. I declare that I will have no master and no mistress, no slave and no neophyte, but that I will strive to preserve my own personality and to help all of my brothers and sisters, the world over, to preserve theirs. I declare that I will let no superstition or prejudice set limits to my good will, my influence, or my ambition!"
"You are standing on a precipice," he warned.
"It's glorious!"
"But it may be fatal."
"But I have the head for it," she retorted. "I shall not fall!"
"Others may who try to emulate you."
"That's Fear--the most subtle of foes!"
"Oh, come back," he pleaded seriously, "I can't bear to see you standing there!"