coming to his eyes.

"I do not know, Max," I responded. "A rare thing has happened to you.
You have won a marvellous love from a marvellous woman. She takes no
pains to conceal it. She could not hide it if she would. What you feel,
only you and God know."

"Only God," cried Max, huskily. "Only God. I cannot measure it."

"My dear boy," said I, taking his arm, "you are at a point where you
must decide for yourself."

"I have decided," returned Max. "If my father and mother were not
living, I might--I might--bah! there is but one life for me. I am
doomed. I make myself wretched by resistance."

"When we return to Peronne, you will know your mind," I answered
soothingly.

"I know my mind now," he answered. "I know that I would give half the
years of my life to possess Yolanda; but I also know the fate that God
has marked out for me."

"Then you know more than many a wise man thrice your age can boast,"
said I.

* * * * *

The duke's armies had been gathering throughout Burgundy. Men had come
in great numbers to camp near Peronne, and the town was noisy with