Much as I owe to
thee, and well know I that 'tis so much I never can repay it; still for
thine own sweet sake 'tis not in this way thy reward must come. The long
journey and the strange new life would kill thee, Wildenai." Having once
begun he stumbled on, but half aware of how each word he uttered hurt
her, eager only to have done with the whole sorry scene. "Thou art but a
little wild flower. Thou couldst not live away from this, thy sunny
island. Can'st thou not understand, my Wildenai?"
He paused, waiting for a reply; but the maiden answered nothing. Silent
she lay as though in very truth she were a wild flower tossed to earth
and trampled upon by some uncaring foot.
At last the man could bear it no longer. Forcibly he loosed her hands
and stepped back. For a moment longer he lingered, looking down upon her
in mingled impatience and regret; then, turning abruptly, he passed
hastily out of the cavern and down the trail to the beach.
Still the girl lay motionless. It was as if every sense were stunned,
all power of thought suspended except to grasp the one fact that made
her whole world empty, - he was gone! As in a dream she heard the
grating of the pebbles when he pushed his boat into the water, heard the
clank of the oars as they dropped into the oar-locks.
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