"Oh that I could own this pearl!" he cried: and then he shouted aloud in great joyfulness, for the sultan's proclamation flashed up in his mind, recalled by the word he had used.
He would find the sultan a pearl; he would be free—yes, and rich. But his northern blood was cool, and he made sure that his dear one should not suffer should he not succeed at first.
When he met her the next day he said:
"I have come to bid you good-bye for a time."
Her little hand trembled, and her bosom heaved as though a sob were welling up for utterance.
"Only for a time, remember," he went on. "And when I come again it will be to claim a bride."
There was a supreme confidence in his tone, a foreshadowed success that inspired even himself, as he asked:
"Will she be ready for me?"
For answer she nestled in his arms, and no wind was needed to tear the veil aside that his lips might claim love's pledge from hers.
"Shall I have to wait long?" she said.