The Following of the Star: A RomanceBarclay, Florence L. (Florence Louisa)
General
The Following of the Star: A Romance
Barclay, Florence L. (Florence Louisa)
Clergy -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Marriage -- Fiction; Missionaries -- Fiction
Then she came round to the right side of the bed, knelt down, and drew
David into her arms, pillowing his head against her breast. She held him
close, resting her cheek upon his tumbled hair, and waited.
At length David sighed, and stirred feebly. Then he opened his eyes.
"Where--am I?" he asked, in a bewildered voice.
"In your wife's arms," said Diana, slowly and clearly.
"In--my wife's--arms?" The weak voice, incredulous in its amazed wonder,
tore her heart; but she answered, unfaltering:
"Yes, David. In your wife's arms. Don't you feel them round you? Don't
you feel her heart beating beneath your cheek? You were found
unconscious in the train, and they brought you to the Hospital of the
Holy Star, where, thank God, I chanced to be. My darling, can you
understand what I am saying? Oh, David, try to listen! Don't go, until I
have told you. David--I have read your letter; the letter you carried in
your breast-pocket. But, oh darling, it has been the same with me as
with you! I have loved you and longed for you all the time. Ever since
you called me your wife on the boat, ever since our wedding-evening, I
have loved you, my Boy, my darling--loved you, and wanted you. David,
can you understand?"
"Loved--loved _me_?" he said. Then he lay quite still, as if striving to
take in so unbelievable a thing. Then he laughed--a little low laugh,
half laugh, half sob--a sound unutterably happy, yet piteously weak.
And, lifting his wasted hand, he touched her lips; then, for very
weakness, let it fall upon her breast.
"Tell me--again," whispered David.
She told him again; low and tenderly, as a mother might croon to her
sick child, Diana told again the story of her love; and, bending over,
she saw the radiance of the smile upon that dying face. She knew he
understood.
"Darling, it was love for you which brought the look you saw in the
photograph. There was no other man. There never will be, David."
"I want you--to have--the best," whispered David, with effort.
"This _is_ the best, my dearest, my own," she answered, firmly. "To hold
you in my arms, at last--at last. David, David; they would have been
hungry always, if you had not come back. Now they will try to be
content."
"I wish--" gasped the weak voice, "I wish--I need not----"
"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty," said Diana, bravely.
She felt the responsive thrill in him. She knew he was smiling again.
"Ah yes," he said. "Yes. In the Land that is very far off. Not so far
as--as----"
"No, darling. Not so far as Central Africa."
"But--no--return," whispered David.
"Yet always near, my own, if I keep close to Him. You will be in His
presence; and He will keep me close to Him. So we cannot be far apart."
He put up his hand again, and touched her lips. She kissed the cold
fingers before they dropped, once more, to her breast.
"Has our love--helped?" asked David.
"Yes," she said. "It brought me to the King. It was the guiding Star."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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