"Hai," said Maia, without any particular evidence of consternation. "It is even so she said it would happen when I had finished. She said that when I had shaved you, lord, and reddened your hair, and stained your body, and put the loin-cloth upon it, you would reappear."
"She?" Croft questioned her quickly. "You mean Naia of Aphur, Maia?"
"Aye. Who else, Hupor Jason?" She rose and picked up her bundle. "Naia, my mistress. These are your garments. Come, Hupor, till I lead you to her. She lies near."
CHAPTER XX
THE BLUE GIRL OF APHUR
She lies near! Croft's senses reeled and then steadied into the blinding truth—the sweetness of it, the full meaning of it—and yet the possible peril to her whom it concerned.
Naia of Aphur lay near him—had come to his rescue.
Then—then—seven days before she had not told him all the plan she had in mind. She had told him only the essential portion which most closely concerned himself—and the rest—this thing—the part which dealt with her aid and assistance when the time for it should arrive, she had left unspoken, knowing no doubt he would forbid her risking her own integrity in an effort to succor him.
For an instant he thrilled with blended feeling, and then he spoke to Maia. "You mean?"