They stood side by side, she looking out over the garden to the dim and pearly hills, he gazing at her uplifted face and the pure column of her throat.

They stood in a most dangerous silence.

The air came cool and fresh to their nostrils.

Stella drew it in with a smile.
"Good-night!" She laid her hand for a second on his arm.

"Don't come with me!" "Why not ?" And the answer came in a clear whisper: "I am afraid." Stella seemed to feel the man at her side suddenly grow very still.
"It's only a step," she went on quickly and she passed out of the window on to the pathway.