Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/329

 but surely under the olive boughs; then he lost her from sight for a time where the rough road wound away under the outer bastions of the old fortress; then in a little while, which seemed very long to him standing wondering and expectant there, she came unannounced through the farthest circle of the long open arcade that opened from the loggia.

She came towards him in silence, without embarrassment, without hesitation.

Himself, he neither moved nor spoke.

A great anger and a great yearning wrestled together in his heart, and held him silent.

'I wished to thank you,' she said simply, as she came and stood before him.

He was mute.

'I thought I ought to thank you for all you did,' she said again. 'I heard that you were here, so I came.'

'It is a long way to come for so little,' he said, his strong emotion seeking a refuge in a commonplace truism.

'That is nothing to me,' she said. 'I wished to thank you. You were brave and kind; you were very generous; I had been rude and thankless.'