He regarded it sharply. “You think you will fathom the Past—by marrying me?... That is why you do it?”
She nodded gravely.
He turned his back on her and looked over the rail, out to sea.
“No woman is going to march through my heart, slamming doors behind her!” he said under his breath.
She regarded the obstinate back a minute and her face grew tender.... She had become gentle—as if she saw something precious. She put out her hand and touched his arm.
“Don’t be afraid of me, Gordon! I will wait—at the threshold!”
He wheeled suddenly and held out his arms.
But she glanced over her shoulder. Only the empty decks—a Japanese sailor lounging by the rail—and the quiet figure of the woman asleep in her chair.
She put up her face with the breath of a kiss and drew near to him.... And in her half-slumber, beneath lowered lids, Eleanor More dreamed on.... And the boat moved to the west and to the new world—the old world of the Past—new with coming life in the cycles of the earth and the sun.
At Shanghai there were a few days of delay while Kou Ying arranged for accommodations on the river-steamer, and telegraphed ahead for runners and provisions and an escort to be waiting at the various points where they might wish to stop off.