But he had found her. Here she could not escape him.
He stood in the doorway. He remembered Vere’s trust in him. He remembered Gaspare’s trust. He remembered that Gaspare was waiting in the boat for him—for them. He remembered the words of Gaspare:
“You must make the poor Signora understand!”
That was what he had to do: to make Hermione understand. And that surely he could do. Surely he had the power to do it now.
For he himself understood.
CHAPTER XLII
“Hermione!”
Artois spoke to the void.
“Hermione, because I have followed you, because I have come here, don’t you think that I am claiming any right. Don’t think that I imagine, because I am your—because I am—I mean that it has not been easy to me to come. It has not been—it is not a simple thing to me to break in upon—upon—”