"She shook her head feebly. 'It is no use, my dear,' she said, 'I must go.'
"'I'll come with you,' I said, 'I'll not live without you.'
"She shook her head again.
"'You must be brave, Bob. I shall be watching you afterwards just as much as if I still lived on earth. If only I could give you my arms! A poor, weak woman's arms, but better than none, dear.'
"She died some weeks later. I spent all the time at her bedside, I hardly left her. Her arms were round me when she died. Shall I ever feel them round me again? I wonder! You see, they are mine now.
"They came to me gradually. It was very strange at first to have arms and hands which one couldn't see. I used to keep my eyes shut as much as possible, and try to fancy that I had never lost my arms.
"I got used to them in time. But I have always been careful not to let people see me do things that they would know to be impossible for an armless man. That was what took me to Africa again, because I could get lost there and do things for myself with these hands."
"'And they twain shall be one flesh,'" I muttered.
"Yes," he said, "I think the explanation must be something of that sort. There's more than that in it, though; these arms are other than flesh."
He sat silent for a time with his head bowed on his chest. Then he spoke again: