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Dead Men Tell No Tales | E. W. Hornung | |
Chapter XIX My Great Hour |
Page 7 of 8 |
He was on his knees no more, but he held her in his arms, and as I entered he was kissing the tears from her wet, flushed cheek. Her eyelids drooped; she was pale as the dead without, so pale that her eyebrows looked abnormally and dreadfully dark. She did not cling to him. Neither did she resist his caresses, but lay passive in his arms as though her proper paradise was there. And neither heard me enter; it was as though they had forgotten all the world but one another. "So this is it," said I very calmly. I can hear my voice as I write. They fell apart on the instant. Rattray glared at me, yet I saw that his eyes were dim. Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked me steadily in the face. But never a word. "You love him ?" I said sternly. The silence of consent remained unbroken. "Villain as he is?" I burst out. And at last Eva spoke. "I loved him before he was one," said she. "We were engaged." She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes. But I stepped backward, for I had had enough. "Can you not forgive me?" "Oh, dear, yes." "Can't you understand?" "Perfectly," said I. "You know you said - " "I have said so many things!" |
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Dead Men Tell No Tales E. W. Hornung |
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