We must also remain strangers
to all appearances for a time," he said at last. The Swiss spinster
gazed up at him piteously.
"May I not even tell Nadine?" she faltered.
"Ah!" carelessly said Alan Hawke, "she is a mere child; I shall
probably never see her. It is you alone that I would trust. Will
you not come here again? I dare not, for your own sake, detain you
longer now." The timid woman glanced hurriedly at her watch.
"I have been here already too long, and I must go! And there is so
much I would say to you!" She was almost handsome in her blushing
confusion.
"Then you will come again, here? Ram Lal is my old factotum!" the
young Major pleaded.
"I will come!" the half-subjugated woman whispered under her breath.
"But when?" Her eyes were meekly downcast and her faltering voice
trembled.
"The day after to-morrow, at the same time," said Alan Hawke, his
heart leaping up in a secret victory, "but no living soul must ever
know of it. I will be here in the pagoda, waiting for you. Ram Lal
will wait for you himself and admit you. Do you promise?" he said,
with a glance which set her pallid cheeks aflame.
"I promise! I promise! Let me go, now!" gasped the excited woman.
With stately courtesy, the Major then led her back into the jewel
merchant's luxurious lounging-room.
"Wait here for a single moment!" he whispered as he quickly poured
out a glass of cordial.
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