She looked in silence. Then she reached out a hand and touched it, as if unbelieving.
"Why, you never told me!"
"I had a reason."
"And—through all that inferno, when every ounce had to be considered—"
"I was keeping this for—you."
There were tears in her eyes as he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"For you," he repeated. "It was mine, but it is mine no longer. This crown-jewel of Islam is yours, now—if you will have it."
"If I will have it!" she whispered. "There's only one thing in this whole world I more dearly long for!"
"I am offering you that, too," said the man, in a trembling voice. "I knew nothing of it, nothing whatever, until I came to understand what a woman really could be. I fought against it—and lost.
"It came to me not sought after and welcomed, but storming over the ramparts of my soul. Yes, I fought love—and lost."