| 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 |
| 1 | 20 | 41 | 61 | 81 |
|
www.freeclassicebooks.com
For three days nothing of moment occurred. Bradley did not return; nor did we
have any word from von Schoenvorts. In the evening Lys and I went up into one
of the bastion towers and listened to the grim and terrible nightlife of the frightful
ages of the past. Once a saber-tooth screamed almost beneath us, and the girl
shrank close against me. As I felt her body against mine, all the pent love of
these three long months shattered the bonds of timidity and conviction, and I
swept her up into my arms and covered her face and lips with kisses. She did
not struggle to free herself; but instead her dear arms crept up about my neck
and drew my own face even closer to hers.
"You love me, Lys?" I cried.
I felt her head nod an affirmative against my breast. "Tell me, Lys," I begged, "tell
me in words how much you love me."
Low and sweet and tender came the answer: "I love you beyond all conception."
My heart filled with rapture then, and it fills now as it has each of the countless
times I have recalled those dear words, as it shall fill always until death has
claimed me. I may never see her again; she may not know how I love her--she
may question, she may doubt; but always true and steady, and warm with the
fires of love my heart beats for the girl who said that night: "I love you beyond all
conception."
For a long time we sat there upon the little bench constructed for the sentry that
we had not as yet thought it necessary to post in more than one of the four
towers. We learned to know one another better in those two brief hours than we
had in all the months that had intervened since we had been thrown together.
She told me that she had loved me from the first, and that she never had loved
von Schoenvorts, their engagement having been arranged by her aunt for social
reasons.
That was the happiest evening of my life; nor ever do I expect to experience its
like; but at last, as is the way of happiness, it terminated. We descended to the
compound, and I walked with Lys to the door of her quarters. There again she
kissed me and bade me good night, and then she went in and closed the door.
I went to my own room, and there I sat by the light of one of the crude candles we
had made from the tallow of the beasts we had killed, and lived over the events of
the evening. At last I turned in and fell asleep, dreaming happy dreams and
planning for the future, for even in savage Caspak I was bound to make my girl
safe and happy. It was daylight when I awoke. Wilson, who was acting as cook,
was up and astir at his duties in the cook-house. The others slept; but I arose
and followed by Nobs went down to the stream for a plunge. As was our custom,
6
1
Page
Quick Jump
|