“Do you blame me now that I kept the thing secret from you?” asked Ethne, softly. “When so much depended on it, it seemed cruel to rouse your hopes until I was certain.”
For a time he could not answer; speech failed him as he remembered his words to Elgiva against Ethne.
At last he murmured in broken tones, as he knelt before her:
“I can never repay you, Ethne—I am unworthy even to thank you.”
He turned to Elgiva and said:
“It is finished, Elgiva—my father’s wishes are fulfilled. You remember, in the grotto, you said you wished you might owe your mother’s rescue to another rather than to me. You have your desire now.”
The girl made no reply.
“And yet—in spite of all my gratitude to Ethne, I should have liked you to have owed it all to me. It is sweet to fight for those—we love!”
A quick blush flamed on Elgiva’s face. Her eyes met Cormac’s. Her hands fell into his outstretched to her.
Ethne threw her arms round both.