If it comes back again--Oh, Duane! and it surely will--I shall face it
undaunted once more; and every hydra-head that stirs I shall kill until
the thing lies dead between us for all time. "Then, dear, will you take
the girl who has done this thing? "GERALDINE SEAGRAVE." This was his
answer on the eve of his departure. And on the morning of it Geraldine
came down to say good-bye; a fresh, sweet, and bewildering Geraldine,
somewhat slimmer than when he had last seen her, a little finer in
feature, more delicate of body; and there was about her even a hint of
the spirituel as a fascinating trace of what she had been through,
locked in alone behind the doors of her room and heart. She bade him
good-morning somewhat shyly, offering her slim hand and looking at him
with the slight uncertainty and bent brows of a person coming suddenly
into a strong light. He said under his breath: "You poor darling, how
thin you are." "Athletics," she said; "Jacob wrestled with an angel,
but
you know what I've been facing in the squared circle