“At that moment the other girl left the boat, swam up behind you, and clasped you frantically round the throat.
“You let go of the first, in order to seize those throttling fingers; but she caught at your wrists and held them.
“Instantly you all went under, in a churning mass; then came to the surface—you fighting desperately—only to disappear again.
“Then, for one instant I saw a brown hand appear, pointing heavenward; a girl’s white fingers locked around the wrist.
“Then that also vanished, and nothing remained, but the boat, drifting bottom upwards, and the fainting French woman in my arms.
“My Man, my Life, my All, lay drowning fathoms deep in the treacherous, cruel sea, while I stood helpless on the shore.
“When the precious body was recovered a week later, those gripping fingers had to be cut from throat and wrists, that it might lie alone in the graveyard on the hill. I was not allowed to see It; so my last memory of my Darling was that vision of him in his glorious strength, as he swam through the waters, with no thought of personal danger, shouting to the drowning girls: ‘Hold on! I am coming!’
“And, when the chill waters of my own despair threatened to engulf me, I seemed to hear again those ringing tones: ‘Hold on! I am Coming!’
“Then something happened which gave them a new meaning, and awakened in my own mind a train of thought which surely saved my reason.