As she drew near the appointed place her pace grew slower and slower;
the woman in her was unconsciously manifesting itself. She would not
be first in her tryst with a man. Unconsciousness, however, is not a
working quality which can be relied upon for staying power; the
approach to the trysting-place brought once more home to her the
strange nature of her enterprise. She had made up her mind to it;
there was no use in deceiving herself. What she had undertaken to do
was much more unconventional than being first at a meeting. It was
foolish and weak to delay. The last thought braced her up; and it
was with a hurried gait, which alone would have betrayed her to an
intelligent observer, that she entered the grove.



CHAPTER XI--THE MEETING



Had Stephen been better acquainted with men and women, she would have
been more satisfied with herself for being the first at the tryst.
The conventional idea, in the minds of most women and of all men, is
that a woman should never be the first. But real women, those in
whom the heart beats strong, and whose blood can leap, know better.
These are the commanders of men. In them sex calls to sex, all
unconsciously at first; and men answer to their call, as they to
men's.

Two opposite feelings strove for dominance as Stephen found herself
on the hilltop, alone. One a feeling natural enough to any one, and