He has no prejudices. The viler
the origin, the greater the freedom of these simple souls!"
He drew a cautious, hissing breath and added in an agitated murmur: "I
can see right into his mind, I have been nearly caught napping by his
cunning."
He stretched his neck to peer into the room from the side. Heyst, too,
made a step forward, under the slight impulse of that slender hand
clasping his hand with a thin, bony grasp.
"Behold!" the skeleton of the crazy bandit jabbered thinly into his ear
in spectral fellowship. "Behold the simple, Acis kissing the sandals
of the nymph, on the way to her lips, all forgetful, while the menacing
life of Polyphemus already sounds close at hand--if he could only hear
it! Stoop a little."
CHAPTER TWELVE
On returning to the Heyst bungalow, rapid as if on wings, Ricardo
found Lena waiting for him. She was dressed in black; and at once his
uplifting exultation was replaced by an awed and quivering patience
before her white face, before the immobility of her reposeful pose, the
more amazing to him who had encountered the strength of her limbs and
the indomitable spirit in her body. She had come out after Heyst's
departure, and had sat down under the portrait to wait for the return of
the man of violence and death. While lifting the curtain, she felt the
anguish of her disobedience to her lover, which was soothed by a feeling
she had known before--a gentle flood of penetrating sweetness.
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