It came, slow and exquisitely pure, as if an angel had drawn near to the turbulent earth with a message of healing:
Sorrow and grief and tears,
Eyes vainly raised above;
Here a thorn and there a rose;
Afterwards, Love!
Nina turned from the open window. She was groping, for her eyes were full of tears. From the doorway a man moved quietly to meet her.
"Hereford!" she said in a broken whisper, and went straight into his arms.
He held her fast, so fast that she felt his heart beating against her bowed head. But it was many seconds before he spoke.
"Do you remember the wishing-gate, Nina?" he said, speaking softly. "And how you asked for a Deliverer?"
She stretched up her arms to clasp his neck without lifting her head. She was crying and could not answer him.
He put his hand upon her hair and she felt it tremble.
"Has the Deliverer come to you, dear?" he asked her very tenderly.
He felt for her face in the darkness, and turned it slowly upwards. She did not resist him though she knew well what was coming. Rather she yielded to his touch with a sudden, passionate willingness. And so their lips met in the first kiss that had ever passed between them.