gate. He felt the keen, searching quality of her eyes, but was able
now to return the look.

"We sometimes judge ourselves harshly," she continued. "I have myself
been often led by an idle temptation into what at first appeared but
a trifling wrong, but which looked far more serious later. Had I
acted with the greater knowledge, I had committed the greater fault."

What was she saying? Was she not describing his own position?

"Therefore, when I say Paul," she added, "I do it because I like you,
and because I believe in you, and not because I think you perfect."

She lifted the rickety old gate with care, and he closed it after
them; then they walked out over the dank leaves, through the
brilliant coloring of the forest. The day was soft and tempting,
while a mellow haze filled the air.

"I am going to show you the prettiest spot in all the world," said
Dorothy, "a place where I often go and sit alone."

They walked side by side, there being no longer any path, or, if
there had been one, it was now covered, and the sunlight, filtering
through the tree-tops, fell in brilliant patches upon the gaudy
carpet beneath their feet. They had walked a mile, when Paul heard
the murmur of distant water, and saw that they were heading for a
rocky gorge, through which a small stream forced its way in a jumble
of tiny cataracts and pools. It was an ideal spot, shut in from all
the world beyond. The restful air, barely stirring the tree-tops, and
the water, as it went dripping from stone to stone, made just enough