“I remain here,” he answered quietly. “I remain in the service of Prince Kaid.”
“It is a dreadful government, an awful service—”
“That is why I stay.”
“You are going to try and change things here—you alone?”
“I hope not alone, in time.”
“You are going to leave England, your friends, your family, your place—in Hamley, was it not? My aunt has read of you—my cousin—” she paused.
“I had no place in Hamley. Here is my place. Distance has little to do with understanding or affection. I had an uncle here in the East for twenty-five years, yet I knew him better than all others in the world. Space is nothing if minds are in sympathy. My uncle talked to me over seas and lands. I felt him, heard him speak.”
“You think that minds can speak to minds, no matter what the distance—real and definite things?”
“If I were parted from one very dear to me, I would try to say to him or her what was in my mind, not by written word only, but by the flying thought.”
She sat down suddenly, as though overwhelmed. “Oh, if that were possible!” she said. “If only one could send a thought like that!” Then with an impulse, and the flicker of a sad smile, she reached out a hand. “If ever in the years to come you want to speak to me, will you try to make me understand, as your uncle did with you?”