When Lady Ingleby opened her eyes, she could not, for a moment, imagine where she was.
Dawn was breaking over the sea. A rift of silver, in the purple sky, had taken the place of the morning star. She could see the silvery gleam reflected in the ocean.
“Why am I sleeping so close to a large window?” queried her bewildered mind. “Or am I on a balcony?”
“Why do I feel so extraordinarily strong and rested?” questioned her slowly awakening body.
She lay quite still and considered the matter.
Then looking down, she saw a large brown hand clasping both hers. Her head was resting in the curve of the arm to which the hand belonged. A strong right arm was flung over and around her. All questionings were solved by two short words: “Jim Airth.”
Lady Ingleby lay very still. She feared to break the deep spell of restfulness which held her. She hesitated to bring down to earth the exquisite sense of heaven, by which she was surrounded.
As the dawn broke over the sea, a wonderful light dawned in her eyes, a radiance such as had never shone in those sweet eyes before. “Dear God,” she whispered, “am I to know the Best?”
Then she gently withdrew one hand, and laid it on the hand which had covered both.
“Jim,” she said. “Jim! Look! It is day.”