Nichols went to the rail, and stood for some time in silence, facing the land. "And I have seen the other" said he slowly "It was about a year later that my course led me again through Sunda Straits, and I arrived at Anjer on another evening of moonlight and stillness and awakened memory. After the anchor was down I ordered a boat to be set overboard, and went ashore in the late evening to revisit the bungalow. As I went up the path, the shadows seemed to start and move about me, and a wandering breeze stirred the palm trees with a quick rustle as of departing feet. I found the wreck of a rattan chair standing on the verandah, pulled it to the railing, and sat there a long while facing the oval of grass flooded with moonlight, the fixed scene, as it were, where the actors of this unseen drama had stalked through their extravagant business and said their futile words.
"Nothing had changed; I seemed as if I had left the place but yesterday. I turned to the heavy shadow where I had seen and heard her last, the shadow that must have marked the end of a hillside trail; and it wasn't surprising to me, but only natural, to see her standing there once more, her form drawn back as if from a sight she didn't dare behold. In a moment the tense figure moved. She walked like a tiger, with a crouching step of absolute grace, cautious yet unafraid. Crossing the oval, she came directly to the railing. I got up hastily, in excitement and alarm; and we faced each other without speaking for quite a period.
"'You?...' said she at last in a low voice, drawing back. Her hand tightened on the rail. She was regally beautiful.
"'For what do you wait?' I asked, striving to be calm.
"She threw down her arms with a violent gesture. 'A word, a message!' she cried 'Can you tell me nothing? Has he come?'
"'He is far away' I answered.
"She put her hand on mine. 'You are his friend' said she 'I do not blame you now; I see that it rested with him alone. But keep nothing from me. Has he sent no word by you?'
"'He does not know that I have come' said I.
"'Ah, I have waited, night upon night!' she cried 'Whenever ships stop, I have waited here—in darkness, in rain—always!—thinking to see you, or that he might come, or that a message.... Will he not come? Tell me!'
"'He will never come' said I.