The Moth and the Star
"You name the one crime I never committed," said he. "I am Stingaree."
And they gazed into each other's eyes; but not yet were hers to be believed.
"He only escaped this afternoon!"
"I am he."
"With a bald head?"
"Thanks to a razor."
"And in those clothes?"
"I found them where I found the razor. Look; they don't fit me as well as they might."
And he drew nearer, flinging out an abbreviated sleeve; but she looked all the harder in his face.
"Yes. I begin to remember your face; but it has changed."
"It has gazed on prison walls for many years."
"I heard … I was grieved … but it was bound to come."
"It may come again. I care very little, after this!"
And his dark eyes shone, his deep voice vibrated; then he glanced over a shrugged shoulder toward the outer door, and Hilda darted as if to turn that key too, but there was none to turn.
"It ought to happen at once," she said, "and through me."
"But it will not."
269
