DESTINY



The barns at the back stood substantial and in re-
pair, and now out beyond the road, Lake Forsaken
mirrored the stars and broke in light when a fish leaped
under the moon.
  Mary Burton and her lover walked down to the gate,
and he said simply:
  "Now, dear, there is nothing more to hold you here.
If you still long to see beyond the sky-line, I can take
you wherever you want to go."
  But she wheeled and laid a hand in protest on his
arm.
  "No !" she exclaimed tensely. "No, this is where
I belong."  After a moment she went on. "Life holds
enough for me here. This is home to me. I don't
want anything else."
  "I am glad. It's what I hoped to hear you say,"
he responded. "I don't think somehow I could be as
happy anywhere else, but the world's a big place and
you-you have the right to the best it holds-any-
where."
  "Once, dear, you know," she told him gravely, "we
threshed that out and we had almost made up our
minds to leave here. We were almost whipped-and
Ham had his dreams. He wanted to go out and try
life in a bigger world-and you recognized his power.
I wanted it all, too-but we stayed. I don't know
what would have happened if we hadn't, but I do
know-" she looked up into his face and smiled; into
her eyes came a regal serenity-"I do know that I
don't have to go out and hunt for life-life has come
to me, and I'm happy."
  The man caught her to him and she clasped her
hands behind his head. Before them was June and
starlight and youth and life-and love. He bent his



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