And presently she heard her name--whispered low and with a note of tender appeal.
Her eyes were closed and she paid no heed: but the appeal was once more whispered--this time more insistently, and almost against her will she murmured:
"An unfortunate whom you hate and despise, and who would have given his life to serve you."
"A poor heart-broken wretch who could not keep away from your side, and longed for one more sound of your voice even though it uttered words more cruel than man can stand."
"One word of comfort to ease that terrible sting of hate which has burned into my very soul, till every minute of life has become unendurable agony."
"How could I know," she asked, and now her eyes were wide open, gazing out into nothingness, not turned yet in the direction whence that dream-voice came: "how could I know that my hatred made you suffer or that you cared for comfort from me?"
"How could you know, Crystal?" the voice replied. "You could know that, my dear, just as surely as you know that in a stormy night the sky is dark, just as you know that when heavy clouds obscure the blue ether above, no ray of sunshine warms the shivering earth. Just as you know that you are beautiful and exquisite, so you knew, Crystal, that I loved you from the deepest depths of my soul."
"By that subtle sense which every human being has. And you did guess it, Crystal, else you would not have hated me as you did."
"I hated you because I thought you a traitor."
"Is it too late to swear to you that my only thought was to serve you? . . ."
"By working against my King and country?" she retorted with just this one brief flash of her old vehemence.
"By working for my country and for yours. This I swear by your sweet eyes--by your dear mouth that hurt me so cruelly that evening--I swear it by the damnable agony which you made me endure . . . by the abject cowardice which dragged me to your side now like a whining wretch that craves for a crumb of comfort . . . by all that you have made me suffer. . . . Crystal, I swear to you that I was never false . . . false, great God! when with every drop of my blood, with every fibre of my heart, with every nerve, every sinew, every thought I love you."
The voice was so low, never above a whisper, and all around her Crystal felt again that delicious sense of warmth--the breath of Love that brings man's heart so near to God--the sense of security in a man's all-encompassing Love which women prize above everything else on earth.