But you, and you alone, could fill the place in my
life which I have always prayed might be filled, not for a year or
even a decade of years, but for eternity."
"Oh, but you forget!" she faltered.
"I remember so much," he replied, "that I know it is hard for you
to speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
fingers shrink from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this,
Philippa--hear the speech of a renegade--my mandate should be torn
in pieces. My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper
basket, To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a
new life. But you must be very sure indeed."
"Is it because of me that you are staying here?" she asked.
"Upon my honour, no," he assured her. "I must stay here a little
longer, whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain
what I am to you at this minute. I ask from you only that you
remain just what you are. But when the moment of my freedom comes,
when my task here is finished and I turn to go, then I must come
to you."
She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open
the window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the
curtains, blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion.
She stood there for several moments, as though in search of some
respite from the emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned
her back.
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