The escaping steam by this time had spent its strongest volume. It was now no more than a hiss. The Daphne had fallen off before the wind again and the noise aloft had practically ceased.
"I feel this is the reckoning, partner," he whispered.
With a sob she bent and kissed him with all the passion of her being.
"And for the touch of those lips," Paul went on, "the reckoning—cannot be too hard."
"No, no, dearheart——No, no! This is not the reckoning—only the beginning of the future."
Paul shook his head.
"I have thought of the future, but it can't be—for me. If things had been different I should have found you though you had been at the ends of the world. And I should have come for you and taken you." A flash of the old conquering spirit lit his eyes. "I should have taken you despite a world against me. It is part of the—the reckoning that we should—have met; like strange ships on the sea and to have sailed together for this little while. But it wasn't to be that we were to get home together. And that is right. That is right."
"Paul, Paul, this hopelessness is not like you. You will live! You must live!"
"But I don't want to live," he answered very calmly. "I am nothing but a worthless, broken thing—marked among men. I haven't even a name to give you. I am a pariah man—darling. That's——"
"Listen, Paul—look up at me so that you will know that it is my soul speaking to you. All that fortune has given me is as nothing to just the glance with which you are looking up at me now. All that I have is yours—my soul, my flesh, my blood, my every breath, my life! Had you nowhere to lay your head I would follow you. Had you only rags to cover me I would wear them as robes of state. Had you only a crust from the gutter to share with me it would be a feast. Were the whole world to revile you its scorn would make me proud. I would wear its spittle like jewels. My love would be my crown."