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 members about you. Perhaps a long trip through the country will be assigned for me to-day, but I shall not leave until I have found a refuge for you.”

The harper, frightened, looked up. “You say that I have come at a suitable time, and yet you announce your departure on a long journey? How I hoped to gain your friendship, to see you at least occasionally, to live for one ideal with you; and are we to part already? Not to see you for a long time is the same to me now as never to see you again. I will not let you go unless—you promise not to go without me.”

“My journey is dangerous.”

“By your side I shall not fear gorges, torrents, thieves or wolves.”

“Another kind of danger awaits me.”

“I tell you again that I fear nothing. Why do you hesitate to confide the danger to me? You say that you believe me, but do you not know that I would rather have my heart torn out than the secret you intrust to it?”