Her accent was quaint and fascinating, but her voice was very musical. To the man who knelt at her feet it was the sweetest music in the world.
"Naîda," he whispered. "Naîda. Even yet I dare not believe that you are here."
"You knew I would come?"
"How was I to know that you would see my message?"
She opened her closed left hand and smoothed out a scrap of torn paper which she held there. It was from the "Agony" column of that day's Times
N. November 23, 1913.
N. B. See Telephone Directory.
"I told you long, long ago that I would come if ever you wanted me."
"Long, long ago," echoed Nicol Brinn. "To me it has seemed a century; to-night it seems a day."
He watched her with a deep and tireless content. Presently her eyes fell. "Sit here beside me," she said. "I have not long to be here. Put your arms round me. I have something to tell you."
He seated himself beside her on the settee, and held her close. "My Naîda!" he breathed softly.
"Ah, no, no!" she entreated. "Do you want to break my heart?"
He suddenly released her, clenched his big hands, and stared down at the carpet. "You have broken mine."
