Before him stood Stellara, her beautiful eyes filled with incredulity and with happiness.
“Tanar!” It was only a whisper, but it carried to him a world of meaning that sent thrill after thrill through his body.
“Stellara!” he cried, as he took the girl in his arms. “Stellara, I love you.”
Her soft arms stole around his neck and drew his face to hers. His mouth covered her mouth in a long kiss, and, as he raised his face to look down into hers, from her parted lips burst a single exclamation, “Oh God!” and from the depth of her half-closed eyes burned a love beyond all understanding.
“My mate,” he cried, as he pressed her form to him.
“My mate,” breathed Stellara, “while life remains in my body and after life, throughout death, forever!”
Suddenly she looked up and drew away.
“Who is that, Tanar?” she asked.
As Tanar turned to look in the direction indicated by the girl he saw Jude emerging from the forest at the upper end of the glade. “It is Jude,” he said to Stellara, “who escaped with me from the country of the Buried People.”
Jude approached them, his sullen countenance clouded by its habitual scowl.