CHAPTER XVII.
THE SLAVE OF GOODNESS It seemed to Anne presently that she had left the earth altogether, and was gliding upwards through starland without effort or conscious movement of any sort, simply as though lifted by the hands that held her own.
Their vitality thrilled through her like a strong current of electricity.
She felt that whichever way they turned, wherever they led her, she must be safe.

And there was a quivering ecstasy in that dazzling, rapid rush that filled her veins like liquid fire.
"Do you know where you are ?" he asked her once.
And she answered, in a species of breathless rapture, "I feel as if I were caught in a rainbow." He laughed again at that, a soft, exultant laugh, and drew her more swiftly on.
They left the other masqueraders behind; they left the shimmering lake and its many lights; and at last in the starlight only they slackened speed.
Anne came out of her trance of delight to find that they were between the banks of the stream that fed the lake.

The ground on each side of them shone white and hard in the frost-bound silence.

The full moon was just rising over a long silver ridge of down.

She stood with her face to its cold splendour, her hands still locked in that vital grip.
Slowly at last, compelled she knew not how, she turned to the man beside her.