I wish it more than anything in the world! How can an unselfish girl who loves you harm you or herself or the world if she gives herself to you--without asking benefit of clergy and the bureau of licenses ?" Standing before the fire, her head resting against his shoulder, they watched the fading embers for a while in silence.

Then, irresistibly drawn by the same impulse, they turned toward one another, trembling: "I'll marry you that way--if it's the only way," he said.
"It is the--only way." She laid a soft hand in his; he bent and kissed it, then touched her mouth with his lips.
"Do you give yourself to me, Valerie ?" "Yes." "From this moment ?" he whispered.
Her face paled.

She stood resting her cheek on his shoulder, eyes distrait thinking.

Then, in a voice so low and tremulous he scarce could understand: "Yes, _now_," she said, "I--give--myself." He drew her closer: she relaxed in his embrace; her face, white as a flower, upturned to his, her dark eyes looking blindly into his.
There was no sound save the feathery rush of snow against the panes--the fall of an ember amid whitening ashes--a sigh--silence.
Twice logs fell from the andirons, showering the chimney with sparks; presently a little flame broke out amid the debris, lighting up the studio with a fitful radiance; and the single shadow cast by them wavered high on wall and ceiling.
His arms were around her; his lips rested on her face where it lay against his shoulder.

The ruddy resurgence of firelight stole under the lashes on her cheeks, and her eyes slowly unclosed.
Standing there gathered close in his embrace, she turned her head and watched the flame growing brighter among the cinders.