By the time the sun declined upon the mountain our boxes were once more full, and we turned our heads campwards, following on our homeward route the course of the same stream we had pursued on our outward journey. It was warm work, and when about half our walk was done we stopped on a little rise to look about us.
Alie seated herself on a fallen tree, and I put down my boxes and took my place beside her. Throughout the afternoon she had been a little quiet, and I must own that my own spirits were none too lively. Enjoyable as our excursion had proved, it was nevertheless a fact that every day was bringing my stay in the island nearer to its close, and, under the circumstances, I could not help feeling that, my duty done, it behoved me to be moving on as soon as possible. And yet the thought of leaving this woman, into whose life I had flashed like a meteor, and whom I had come so desperately to love, was agonising to me.
Alie rolled a small stone into the foaming torrent below us and then turned to me.
"Dr. De Normanville," she began,—and it struck me that she hesitated a good deal over what she had to say,—"when my agent visited you in Hong Kong and induced you to come to our assistance, he promised that, as soon as your work was completed, you should be returned safe and sound to the place whence you started. Your work is completed, and now it only remains for you to say—well, to say when you wish to leave us."
This speech, following on top of what I had been thinking myself, put me in a strange position, and for a minute I did not know how to answer. Then a torrent of words and protestations rose upon my lips, but I pressed them back, and to gain time for reflection asked a question.
"I hope that I have done my work to your satisfaction?"
"How can you ask such a thing?" she answered promptly. "You have worked for us as few other men would ever have done. I cannot,"—here her voice trembled a little, and her beautiful eyes filled with tears,—"I cannot ever thank you as I would wish to do."
Either her tear-laden eyes or this expression of her gratitude must have deprived me of my self-control, for when she had finished speaking, my presence of mind completely deserted me, and without more ado I drew closer to her on the tree, and, taking her hand in mine, said, almost without thinking of my words:
"Alie, cannot you see that there can be no question of thanks between us? Cannot you see why I have worked so hard for you? Cannot you see that I would give my own existence to save for you even the life of the dog you loved? Have my actions not spoken for themselves?"
She rose to her feet, but I noticed that she turned her face away and would not look at me. I could feel that she was trembling violently. In spite of this I continued: