You were a good friend."
Li Ho blinked rapidly, but made no reply.
"Will you come with us, Li Ho?" The inscrutable, oriental eyes
looked for a moment into the frank eyes of the white man and then
passed by them to the open door--to the dawn just turning gold above
the sea. The uninjured hand rose and fell in an indescribable
gesture.
"Li Ho go home now!"
The words seemed to flutter out like birds into some vast ocean of
content.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Desire was waking. She had slept without a dream and woke
wonderingly to the shadows of dancing leaves upon the white canvas
above her. It was a long time since she had slept in a tent--a
lifetime. She felt very drowsy and stupid. The brooding sense of
fatality which had made her return so dreamlike still numbed her
senses. She had come back to the mountain, as she had known she must
come. And, curiously enough, in returning she had freed herself. In
coming back to what she had hated and feared she had faced a bogie.
It would trouble her no more. For all that she had lost she had
gained one thing, Freedom. But even freedom did not thrill her. She
was too horribly tired.
Idly she let her thought drift over the details of her home-coming.
Li Ho had been so surprised. His consternation at seeing her had
been comic. But he had asked no questions, and had given her
breakfast in hospitable haste. In the cottage nothing was altered.
It was as if she had been away overnight.
Pages:
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324