“I’ll never see your face again. When you think of me, believe and pray that I’ll keep my word. I want to have the thought of you to die with.”
“I can’t bear it!” wailed Dosia suddenly.
“Good-by.”
She made a motion as if to fling herself upon his breast, and his gesture stayed her. They stood, instead, looking at each other; the room faded away from before them in those moments that were of eternity. The past—the present—the future crept up now and stood between them, pushing them farther and farther away from each other, farther and farther, till even parting had become a fact long ago lived through and grown dim. They were neither man nor woman, but two souls who saw truth, and beyond it something beautifully just, even comforting.
Through the high window the darkening sky had become suddenly luminous where it touched the horizon.
Slowly she moved away from him—slowly, slowly. One last lingering, solemn look, and the door had closed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Lois, would you mind very much if we didn’t move into the new house, after all?”
“Not move into the new house! What do you mean? I thought it would be finished next week.”
“It means that I shall not be able to increase my living expenses this year,” said Justin.