" Saidee's face was turned away from
Victoria's. She looked toward Oued Tolga, the city, whither the
carrier-pigeon had flown.
"I wondered," she went on hastily, "what had become of you, and if you
were happy, and whether by this time you'd nearly forgotten me. You were
such a baby child when I left you!"
"I won't believe you really wondered if I could forget. You, and
thoughts of you, have made my whole life. I was just living for the time
when I could earn money enough to search for you--and preparing for it,
of course, so as to be ready when it came."
Saidee still looked toward Oued Tolga, where the white domes shimmered,
far away in the moonlight, like a mirage. Was love a mirage, too?--the
love that called for her over there, the love whose voice made the
strings of her heart vibrate, though she had thought them broken and
silent for ever. Victoria's arms round her felt strong and warm, yet
they were a barrier. She was afraid of the barrier, and afraid of the
girl's passionate loyalty. She did not deserve it, she knew, and she
would be more at ease--she could not say happier, because there was no
such word as happiness for her--without it. Somehow she could not bear
to talk of Victoria's struggle to come to her rescue. The thought of all
the girl had done made her feel unable to live up to it, or be grateful.
She did not want to be called upon to live up to any standard. She
wanted--if she wanted anything--simply to go on blindly, as fate led.
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