"Nessa!"
"You will never get there. I shouldn't care so much if——" She dropped her eyes to the floor and left the sentence unfinished.
I knelt by her side and took her hand. "You must go, dearest," I urged.
She flung her arms round my neck and clung to me. "Don't make me go, Jack! Don't, if you love me," she pleaded. "I—I can't bear the thought of leaving you."
"It's because I do love you with all my heart that I wish you to go. It's the only way in which our love can ever end as we wish." I pressed my lips to hers. She was trembling like an aspen.
"Bulich! Bulich! Are you ready?" It was the farmer's voice, and Nessa shuddered convulsively at the sound.
"You'll do this for me, dearest?"
"Oh, God, if there were only some other way!" she moaned.
"There isn't, sweetheart. It's the only one in which you can really help me. We shall meet again in a day or two. That's all."
"I shall never see you again."