That was all. The interview had not lasted more than five minutes,
but Doris knew by the look she had seen on Cyril’s face that danger
threatened. The letter had contained a command, a command from a German
officer of high rank to Cyril Hammersley--a spy receiving his orders
from the government he served. If he had gone back to the Lodge at
this moment she would have let him go past her without a word, for the
bitterness came back into her heart and engulfed all purpose. She sat
in her place of concealment, peering out at him, fascinated. He moved
nearer and then stood, his feet braced on the rocks, gazing down the
path by which his midnight visitor had disappeared. How long he stood
there motionless she could not know, but as the moments passed and he
did not move, she rose from her cranny, her trembling nerves seeking an
outlet in motion or speech. Why didn’t he move?
At last her overtaxed nerves could no longer endure and she came out
of the shadow and spoke his name. Still he made no motion, and she
realized that her lips had made no sound. But her foot touched a small
stone, which fell among the rocks, and she saw him wheel around and
face her quickly, something glittering in his hand, while his voice
rang sharply.
“Stand where you are!”
He took a few threatening steps toward her, his look studying her small
bulk.
“It’s I, Cyril,” she said faintly, “Doris.”
“You!” He glanced to right and left, putting the thing in his pocket
and faced her, incredulous. “What are you doing here, Doris?”
“I came to--to see you again----”
His eyes were still searching the darkness around them.
“Who told you to come here?”
“No one,” she lied. “I followed you.”
“Who saw you come? You heard?”
“Yes----” slowly. “O Cyril--I can’t let you go from me like this----”
She put her face to her hands and felt his arms enfold her. She
trembled, but in this weakness a new kind of strength came to her. “I
want you to come with me away--away from all this--for me--for England.
It’s my last appeal--you must not refuse it. I--I want you so, Cyril,
as it used to be.”
She felt his lips gently touch her brow and heard his whisper,
“God bless you!”
She clung to him desperately, to his caress, the one sure symbol of his
purity----
“I love you, Cyril,” she murmured, “I can’t help it. I’ve tried not to.
But you couldn’t kiss me like this, reverently, if you did not love me
well enough to forget everything else. Say you do, dear.”
“I love you,” he whispered again. “But you must not stay here. You
must----”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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