As I entered the room Duare rose from a couch and faced me. Hara Es closed the door and locked it. I heard her footsteps as she descended the stairs. We were alone, Duare and I, for the first time in what seemed an eternity to me.
"Why did you come here?" asked Duare in a tired voice.
"You ask me that!" I exclaimed. "You know why I came."
She shook her head. "You cannot do anything for me; no one can. I supposed you would come if you could help me, but as you can't I do not know why you came."
"If for no other reason, because I love you. Is not that reason enough?"
"Do not speak to me of love," she said, looking at me queerly.
I determined not to make her last moments more unhappy by pressing unwelcome attention upon her. I sought to cheer her, but she said that she was not unhappy.
"I am not afraid to die, Carson Napier," she said. "As it seems impossible that, living, I should ever return to Vepaja, I prefer to die. I am not happy. I can never be happy."
"Why could you never be happy?" I demanded.
"That is my secret; I shall take it to the grave with me. Let us not speak of it any more."