Let me come, Alec.'
'It's impossible. You don't know what you ask.'
'Then let me wait for you. Let me wait till you come back.'
'And if I never come back?'
'I will wait for you still.'
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, as though
he were striving to see into the depths of her soul. She felt very weak.
She could scarcely see him through her tears, but she tried to smile.
Then without a word he slipped his arms around her. Sobbing in the
ecstasy of her happiness, she let her head fall on his shoulder.
'You will have the courage to wait?' he said.
'I know you love me, and I trust you.'
'Then have no fear; I will come back. My journey was only dangerous
because I wanted to die. I want to live now, and I shall live.'
'Oh, Alec, Alec, I'm so glad you love me.'
Outside in the street the bells of the motor 'buses tinkled noisily, and
there was an incessant roar of the traffic that rumbled heavily over the
wooden pavements. There was a clatter of horses' hoofs, and the blowing
of horns; the electric broughams whizzed past with an odd, metallic
whirr.
THE END
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