not face, dear love. But if we could, we ought to see it from a yacht in
safety in the summer time, and then the spell would fall upon us, and we
would know it was true that rose-trees really grew there which gave the
world their blossoms twice a year. That was the legend of the Greeks."

Well, he was seeing it from a yacht, but ah, God! seeing it
alone--alone. And where was she?

So intense and vivid was his remembrance of her that he could feel her
presence near. If he turned his head, he felt he should see her standing
beside him, her strange eyes full of love. The very perfume of her seemed
to fill the air--her golden voice to whisper in his ear--her soul to
mingle with his soul. Ah yes, in spirit, as she had said, they could never
be parted more.

A suppressed moan of anguish escaped his lips, and his father, who had come
silently behind him, put his hand on his arm.

"My poor boy," he said, his gruff voice hoarse in his throat, "if only to
God I could do something for you!"

"Oh, father!" said Paul.

And the two men looked in each other's eyes, and knew each other as never
before.




CHAPTER XXIII