for the lights are heavily shaded, the figures of his father and of Daisy; he now hears his father’s whisper:–“The doctor says he is only suffering from shock, but that when he wakes he must be kept very quiet.”
And Daisy’s clear, low voice, “Oh, yes, father. When he opens his eyes perhaps we’d better leave him with Nancy.”
Nancy? Then Nancy really is here, close to him, sitting on a low chair by the side of the bed. And when he opened his eyes just now she really had bent her dear head forward and laid her soft lips on his hand. It was no dream–no dream–
And then there comes over him an overwhelming rush of mingled feelings and emotions. He tries to remember what it was that had happened this afternoon–he sees the active, restless figure of the Englishman dancing queerly up and down as it had seemed to dance just before he, Gerald, fell, and he feels again the horrible wish to laugh which had seized him when that dancing figure had said something about Beaucourt having spoken “very nicely–“
“Curse Beaucourt! Such a fiend is only fit for the lowest depths of Hell.”
Again he opens his eyes. Did he say the ugly words aloud? He thinks not, he hopes not, for Daisy only takes their father’s hand in hers and leads him from the room.
“Nancy?” he says, trying to turn towards her. “Do we know the truth now? Is my search at an end?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “We know the truth now–my dearest. Your search is at an end.”
And as she gets up and bends over him, he feels her tears dropping on his face.
THE END
BOOKS BY MRS. BELLOC LOWNDES
PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
THE LODGER net, $1.25
THE END OF HER HONEYMOON net, $1.25 STUDIES IN LOVE AND TERROR net, $1.30
MARY PECHELL net, $1.30
THE CHINK IN THE ARMOUR net, $1.30 JANE OGLANDER net, $1.30