There seemed a certain wickedness, apart from time and motive, in the destruction of such beauty.
"Oh, I know! I know now! ... You are putting me to sleep again—"
"For our journey!"
And then Romney heard:
"... We are one. We will go on. There is no end.... I thought I was a terrible woman out in the world. But I was only a little girl looking for her true companion.... I came to him and he knew. We are mated and he is putting me to sleep.... It is deep, deep sleep, and he will be with me. Yet I almost hate to go. Beloved—your head a moment on my breast. I know only love.... Ah, closer to me.... He will not mind.... He, too, is searching for his own—"
It was her theme.
Nifton Bend did not arise from his cushion at her knees. With his free hand, he drew a purse and a pistol and a packet of bank-notes from his coat, and then he spoke:
"You will go now. You will rush forth into the hall as one maddened by pain. You see, I use your plan. They have seen me. I think you will be able to reach the street. Inasmuch as you are stricken, they will call their work done. But do not let a servant approach you. Be wary in the street, should they care to follow. The papers must be dropped into the sea—and then you have finished.... Use the pistol in the hall if necessary—all the chambers. But I think if they see the end upon you, they will let you die outside."
The free hand was raised to Romney, who bowed to his knee before the man and woman.
"You mean beauty and manhood to me—you precious two," he whispered. "The packets shall be sunk as you say. I have been proud to serve you both. Always I shall feel you above and beyond."