“Frank.”

“I could not. Oh, no!”

“But you love me—don't you?”

“I could not help lovin' you. I want to be with you—that's all.”

“All!”

So faint that he hardly heard, she whispered: “I shall die if I can't be with you.”

Ashurst took a mighty breath.

“Come and be with me, then!”

“Oh!”

Intoxicated by the awe and rapture in that “Oh!” he went on, whispering: