away, his eyes on hers, his helmet off, his brown hair, brown as
when she first saw it--peril and hardship had not thinned or greyed it.
For a moment they stood so, for a moment of revealing and understanding,
but speechless; and then, suddenly, and with a smile infinitely
touching, she said, as he had heard her say in the monastery--the very
words:

"Speak--speak to me!"

He took her hand in his. "There is no need--I have said all," he
answered, happiness and trouble at once in his eyes. Then his face grew
calmer. "Thee has made it worth while living on," he added.

She was gaining control of herself also. "I said that I would come when
I was needed," she answered less, tremblingly.

"Thee came alone?" he asked gently.

"From Assouan, yes," she said in a voice still unsteady. "I was riding
out to be by myself, and then I saw you coming, and I rode on. I thought
I should like to be the first to say: 'Well done,' and 'God bless you!'"

He drew in a long breath, then looked at her keenly. "Lord Eglington is
in Egypt also?" he asked.

Her face did not change. She looked him in the eyes.

"No, Eglington would not come to help you. I came to Nahoum, as I said I
would."

"Thee has a good memory," he rejoined simply. "I am a good friend," she
answered, then suddenly her face flushed up, her breast panted, her eyes
shone with a brightness almost intolerable to him, and he said in a low,
shaking voice:

"It is all fighting, all fighting. We have done our best; and thee has
made all possible."

"David!" she said in a voice scarce above a whisper.

"Thee and me have far to go," he said in a voice not louder than her
own, "but our ways may not be the same."

She understood, and a newer life leaped up in her. She knew that he
loved her--that was sufficient; the rest would be easier now. Sacrifice,
all, would be easier. To part, yes, and for evermore; but to know that
she had been truly loved--who could rob her of that?

"See," she said lightly, "your people are waiting--and there, why, there
is my cousin Lacey. Tom, oh, Cousin Tom!" she called eagerly.

Lacey rode down on them. "I swan, but I'm glad," he said, as he dropped
from his horse. "Cousin Hylda, I'm blest if I don't feel as if I could
sing like Aunt Melissa."

"You may kiss me, Cousin Tom," she said, as she took his hands in hers.

He flushed, was embarrassed, then snatched a kiss from her cheek. "Say,
I'm in it, ain't I? And you were in it first, eh, C