Unconsciously Natalia went towards the bench under the magnolia, and sitting down, looked out across the wide, shimmering river, towards the far horizon. The minutes drifted along while the stars came out, and the evening deepened in beauty. The breezes slept now; all the world seemed to have sunk into a balmy somnolence.
As she sat there, lost to her surroundings yet vividly in sympathy with them, the sound of a cane tapping lightly on the ground, broke the silence. She lifted her head quickly, with the movement of one who is startled by a memory; then, rising quickly, she looked through the grove and saw some one coming towards her. The light was in her eyes so she could see only indistinctly the silhouette of a figure coming directly towards where she stood. Suddenly she smiled, made a quick step forward, then drew back again.
"The schoolmaster!" she whispered to herself, smiling over the familiar name. Then she called to him in a low voice with the words that brought rushing back the night she had waited for him by the kitchen fire. "It's you—you've come—I'm so—so glad!"
He was before her now, holding her hands in his and looking down into her face with the kind, sweet expression she had forgotten for so long a time.
"Natalia! Natalia!" he said as if a little dazed. "You have grown into a woman, haven't you?"
Quite suddenly she drew her hands away from him and sank on the bench, the tears streaming down her face.
"I am so, so glad you have come," she repeated between her sobs. "If you only knew how I have suffered these last few days. I can't help crying—forgive me. You seem to bring back the old, happy days to me so. I know you will think I'm quite the little girl still."
Sargent sat down beside her, drawing her hand through his arm, and holding it gently.
"They told me you were out here," he began, his voice trembling slightly, "and I asked them to let me find you. I thought I knew where you were. I did—you see."
Natalia did not attempt to answer him; drying her eyes with her free hand, she began to look at him intently.