"My dear young mistress, you seem so much better that I will not deceive you. It was no dream—it was terrible reality."
"How, Lizette? No dream? Then we were rescued by the people on the yacht after all. Thank Heaven! But Dorian, my Dorian, why does he not come to me?"
"Yes, we were rescued, Miss Nita, the moment you became unconscious. Just as the moon's ray pierced the gloom some yachtsmen near by saw us struggling in the water. They quickly rescued us, but the doctor on the yacht worked over you an hour before you showed any signs of life. Since then you have been ill and knew no one till now."
"How long, Lizette?"
"Oh, several days, miss," evasively.
"And I did not even recognize Dorian! How very, very strange. Why, Lizette, was he so ill they could not let him come to me? And is he better now?"
"Oh, of course he is better now."
"Lizette, how strange your voice sounds. Is it possible—— But no, no! do not tell me my—husband—died of his wound, or I shall go mad with grief!"
"He did not die, Miss Nita."
"Then why does he not come to me?"