He woke at once to vivid consciousness; but lay with eyes closed, waiting till he could gather up his strength, master himself, and take hold on calm speech.
And all the while her flood of tenderness poured over him. It was as if his helplessness had broken down all barriers, his loss of consciousness had burst the bonds of her reserve. The love and longing of those thirty years throbbed in her clasping arms.
“My Love, my own! Don’t go from me again. Ah, when you wake you will remember all! Nigel, you will remember.”
She held him closer to her breast. He felt the desperate strength in those poor clinging arms.
“Dear God, when he awakes, he will remember! He will call his own wife by her name. He will know all at last. At last he will remember.”
Her tears and kisses rained upon his face.
At length he spoke.
“Loose me,” he said.
“Mine,” she murmured, her trembling lips against his hair. “Mine again, at last. I have waited so long—so long.”
He shrank away from her.