He felt his hand clasped.
“What is it?” he whispered. “Frightened? You won't be caught now. You're as safe as the rest of us. No one'll have time to remember you.”
“I wasn't thinking of myself.”
“Then—?”
“Of you—that perhaps you were born for such a time as this.”
“Ah!” He drew his breath. The echo of his own thought! “And perhaps you, too,” he suggested.
She twisted herself, leaning her breast against his arm. Glancing down through the darkness, he caught the tenderness in her eyes and the gleaming smoothness of her cheek and throat.
“I wish I could believe it,” she said softly; “to stand beside you, making you strong.... You could never love me; but to stand beside you, when you rescue the world, that would mean redemption.”
“When I rescue the world!” He laughed quietly. “I'm no Varensky. I came here to make money.”
She swept aside his cynicism. “You were born for this moment. And I, an outcast woman whom the world has hunted, will help you. Perhaps I shall give my life for you.” She spoke exultantly. “I, whom you have rejected.”