For all being done, she turned to me at last, and proudly, though her eyes were filled with tears.
“I, who have flung away a kingdom for thy sake, ask now this question: between me and thee, is it war or peace?”
And I, clasping her hand in mine, the memory of her service wiping out the past, answered right readily, and from my heart, that it was peace.
Chapter XIII
A Strange Story
What had befallen during my captivity I shall now relate in the words of my comrade, Gaston Lestrade. It was long after that he thus set forth the matter, and I transcribe it, leaving nothing out, not even such reflections on me as have no bearing on the story, but with which, nevertheless, he saw fit to garnish his strange tale.
It was with pain [said he] that I saw you, my good friend Dering, vanish in the distance in the company of that black priest and his followers.
It was my folly, and mine alone, that had brought you to that pass, but I did not let the thought deaden my hopes, or cause me to dwell less confidently on plans for our escape.
The beautiful, the adorable Lah, she would see to it, I felt sure, that two gallant gentlemen be not foully murdered; and I set myself to compose on the moment a love ditty in which I should relate to her not only my admiration for her charms, but also my earnest expectation of rescue at her fair hands and speedy safety for my friend as for myself.
Meanwhile I too was borne along out from that blood-stained and evil Council Room, and at a sign from that arch-traitor Agno, I was carried down a long passage, hewn also from solid rock, and ending in a massive door.
This, after some delay, was opened, and I was set once more upon my feet; my bonds were loosed and my guards left me, going out by the way they had come.