Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/249

 there's no such cry. From out the shadows of hell I lift my soul and answer, 'My love, I come!

In a moment he had forgotten every fear; and all the pain, blind and hideous, of the last three days was lost in a joy that lit the world with splendour.

He called immediately on horseback and asked her to ride with him through a beautiful wooded road he had long wished to show her. Stella caught the echo of his horse's hoofs with a shudder as he approached the house. She had not heard that sound on the gravelled roadway of the lawn since the night she listened to the distant echoes of the masqueraders as she stood beside the dead.

She accepted his suggestion and hastily despatched a message to Ackerman asking that he await her return in her library at sundown as she intended to spend the afternoon in the country on important business.

At three o'clock they galloped out of Independence toward the river.

"My heart is too full now for speech," he said, leaning toward her, his face radiant with happiness.

"I understand."

"Just to be near you is all I ask for a while. It seems too good to be true. It has been a century since I saw you."

She remained silent. The only visible response,