Their gray passionless lives had run on together
since Nadine's childhood, as brooks quietly mingle, seeking the
unknown sea! She now felt the wine of life stirring within her,
and, seizing upon another justification for her dangerous secret
association with Alan Hawke, she murmured: "I will tell him of all
this. He has high influence with the Home Government. This Captain
Anstruther on the Viceroy's staff is certainly his firm friend.
We must leave here and return to dear old Switzerland. Perhaps the
Major himself knows the secret of the family history!"
And there was a meaning light in her eyes as she stole back to
Nadine's room when the silver gong sounded, and throwing her arms
around the girl, whispered: "We are going home soon, darling! Be
brave and trust to me! I will find out the story of the past and
tell you all, my darling!" Justine Delande unwound the girl's arms
from round her neck, while honest tears trembled in her eyes.
The low cry: "My mother! My darling mother! He never even breathes
the name!" had loosened all the tide of repressed feeling long pent
up in Justine Delande's heart.
"Trust to me! You shall know all, dearest! I am sure that Euphrosyne
knows, and we shall see her soon!" So with an added reason for
their second meeting, Miss Justine descended the grand marble stair,
murmuring: "He shall tell me all he knows; he can search the past
here! He can help me, and he must--for Nadine's sake!"
And as he bowed low before her in courteous acknowledgment of the
master's presentation, Alan Hawke caught the lambent gleam of the
newly awakened fires in Justine Delande's eyes.
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