"Promise!"
"I promise."
CHAPTER XXIX. THE CATASTROPHE
The first faint spears of morning creeping through the trees
which surrounded Hillside revealed two figures upon a rustic
bench in the little orchard adjoining the house. A pair
incongruous enough--this dark-eyed Eastern woman, wrapped in a
long fur cloak, and Nicol Brinn, gaunt, unshaven, fantastic in
his evening dress, revealed now in the gray morning light.
"Look!" whispered Naida. "It is the dawn. I must go!"
Nicol Brinn clenched his teeth tightly but made no reply.
"You promised," she said, and although her voice was very tender
she strove to detach his arm, which was locked about her
shoulders.
He nodded grimly.
"I'll keep my word. I made a contract with hell with my eyes
open, and I'll stick to it." He stood up suddenly. "Go back,
Naida!" he said. "Go back! You have my promise, now, and I'm
helpless. But at last I see a way, and I'm going to take it."
"What do you mean?" she cried, standing up and clutching his arm.
"Never mind." His tone was cool again. "Just go back."
"You would not--" she began.
"I never broke my word in my life, and even now I'm not going to
begin. While you live I stay silent."
In the growing light Naida looked about her affrightedly. Then,
throwing her arms impulsively around Brinn, she kissed him--a
caress that was passionate but sexless; rather the kiss of a
mother who parts with a beloved son than that which a woman
bestows upon the man she loves; an act of renunciation.
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