"Up the state. It's just as well now. I've got to go. I ought to be getting ready."
She arose. She spoke wistfully.
"Then good-by, Jim. And you'll try to understand? Maybe you'll come to see me just the same when you get back?"
He swallowed hard, forcing back his craving for abandonment, for revelation.
"When I get back," he said.
CHAPTER II
IT OPENS NORA'S EYES
Garth waited at the end of the bridge above Garrison. At eight o'clock it was dark, but the river, glass-like between the rugged hills, retained a pallid light. At a short distance two men smoked and chatted. They had withdrawn themselves in response to Garth's moodiness. He fancied they discussed him as one already dead.
A whistle shrieked. The hills rumbled. Flinging their cigars in the water, the men rejoined Garth. He slipped the mask from his pocket, and secreted his features behind its gray protection.