oulder, her eyes
still seemed to search an answer to their question.

When she had had time to control her voice and expression, she spoke,
releasing her sister, taking the wistful face between her hands, and
gazing at it earnestly. Then she kissed lips and cheeks.

"Victoria!" she murmured. "Victoria! I'm not dreaming you?"

"No, no, darling," the girl answered, more hopefully. "No wonder you're
dazed. This--finding you, I mean--has been the object of my life, ever
since your letters stopped coming, and I began to feel I'd lost you.
That's why I can't realize your being struck dumb with the surprise of
it. Somehow, I've always felt you'd be expecting me. Weren't you? Didn't
you know I'd come when I could?"

Saidee shook her head, looking with extraordinary, almost feverish,
interest at the younger girl, taking in every detail of feature and
complexion, all the exquisite outlines of extreme youth, which she had
lost.

"No," she said slowly. "I thought I was dead to the world. I didn't
think it would be possible for anyone to find me, even you."

"But--you are glad--now I'm here?" Victoria faltered.

"Of course," Saidee answered unhesitatingly. "I'm
delighted--enchanted--for my own sake. If I'm frightened, if you think
me strange--_farouche_--it's because I'm so surprised, and because--can
you believe it?--this is the first time I've spoken English with any
human being for nine years--perhaps more. I almost forget--it seems a
century. I talk to myself--so as not to forget. And every night I write
down what has happened, or rather what I've thought, because things
hardly ever do happen here. The words don't come easily. They sound so
odd in my own ears. And then--there's another reason why I'm afraid.
It's on your account. I'd better tell you. It wouldn't be fair not to
tell. I--how are you going to get away again?"

She almost whispered the last words, and spoke them as if she were
ashamed. But she watched the girl's face anxiously.

Victoria slipped a protecting arm round her waist. "We are going away
together, dearest," she said. "Unless you're too happy and contented.
But, my Saidee--you don't look contented."

Saidee flushed faintly. "You mean--I look old--haggard?"

"No--no!" the girl protested. "Not that. You've hardly changed at all,
except--oh, I hardly know how to put it in words. It's your expression.
You look sad--tired of the things around you."

"I am tired of the things around me," Saidee said