At the door, ready to go, he paused. Mary Josephine came to him and put her hands to his shoulders. A strange unrest was in her eyes, a question which she did not ask.
Something whispered to him that it was the last time. Whatever happened now, tonight must leave him clean. His arms went around her, he drew her close against his breast, and for a space he held her there, looking into her eyes.
"You love me?" he asked softly.
"More than anything else in the world," she whispered.
"Kiss me, Mary Josephine."
Her lips pressed to his.
He released her from his arms, slowly, lingeringly.
After that she stood in the lighted doorway, watching him, until he disappeared in the gloom of the slope. She called good-by, and he answered her. The door closed.
And he went down into the valley, a hand of foreboding gripping at his heart.