Dear old Nick. I knew that his heart bled for me. I knew that he had long since conquered that bitter jealousy which had been our undoing. I sat down upon the bed and re-read the letter several times.
"I wish you happiness in your new-found joy." What could he mean by that? What happiness did the future hold for me? When the yacht touched Naples I would come back as surely as there was a sun in the sky. Happiness! The word had a mocking sound. Nick would not do that. Surely he would not make a jest of such a matter.
"Going on deck?" asked the Captain with a curious smile.
"All right," he replied, "but first ye must promise me not to spoil that brand new shirt by jumping overboard."
We went up the steps and came to the railing. There was nothing but the black night overhead and the deep-running sea beneath. In the east, over the darkening waters the first rosy flush of the coming day was beginning to appear. Twenty miles away were the high hills of Bharbazonia, their tops faintly visible. Behind those hills I pictured the long white highway, the ancient city of Nischon, the Palace of the King, and Solonika, my poor, doomed Solonika, lying forsaken in her dungeon.
The Captain was no longer at my elbow. He had softly crept away. I heard him chuckling as he went forward in the darkness. I walked moodily to the stern where the busy propeller was cutting the water into swirling eddies. I could not swim that distance. There was nothing left to do but watch the hated country fade from sight.
As I came to the end of the deck cabins a woman arose from her chair and threw herself into my arms.
But Friendship, like a noble river, Rolls its stately waters by, Tempest tossed and troubled never, Gliding to eternity. —_Bohn: Mss_.
There is little left to tell. When we arrived at Naples, the Captain "stood up" with us at the nearest church and kissed the bride even before the "meenister." Our honeymoon we spent on board the ocean liner that brought us back to the United States. And what a warm reception Solonika received when she arrived at Spruce street to find my mother awaiting us at the door. How the poor girl wept upon that good lady’s broad bosom, Solonika, who had never known a mother’s gentle caress before.