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She stirred a little. “Do you believe in God?” she asked him, for the second time.

He had not answered her before; he answered her now without hesitation. “Yes, I do.”

She lifted her head to look at him. “I wonder why?” she said.

He was silent for a moment; then, “Just because I can hold you in my arms,” he said, “and feel that nothing else matters–or can matter again.”

“You really feel that?” she said, quickly. “You really love me, dear?”

“That is love,” he said, simply.

“Oh, darling!” Her breath came fast. “Then, if they try to take me from you–you will really do it–you won’t be afraid?”

“Do what?” he questioned, sombrely.

“Kill me, Billikins,” she answered, swiftly. “Kill me–sooner than let me go.”

He bent his head. “Yes,” he said. “My love is strong enough for that.”

“But what would you do–afterwards?” she breathed, her lips raised to his.

A momentary surprise showed in his eyes. “Afterwards?” he questioned.

“After I was gone, darling?” she said, anxiously.

A very strange smile came over Merryon’s face. He pressed her to him, his eyes gazing deep into hers. He kissed her, but not passionately, rather with reverence.

“Your afterwards will be mine, dear, wherever it is,” he said. “If it comes to that–if there is any going–in that way–we go together.”

The anxiety went out of her face in a second. She smiled back at him with utter confidence. “Oh, Billikins!” she said. “Oh, Billikins, that will be great!”

She went back into his arms, and lay there for a further space, saying no word. There was something sacred in the silence between them, something mysterious and wonderful. The drip, drip, drip of the ceaseless rain was the only sound in the stillness. They seemed to be alone together in a sanctuary that none other might enter, husband and wife, made one by the Bond Imperishable, waiting together for deliverance. They were the most precious moments that either had ever known, for in them they were more truly wedded in spirit than they had ever been before.

How long the great silence lasted neither could have said. It lay like a spell for awhile, and like a spell it passed.

Merryon moved at last, moved and looked down into his wife’s eyes.

They met his instantly without a hint of shrinking; they even smiled. “It must be nearly bedtime,” she said. “You are not going to be busy to-night?”

“Not to-night,” he said.

“Then don’t let’s sit up any longer, darling,” she said. “We can’t either of us afford to lose our beauty sleep.”

She rose with him, still with her shining eyes lifted to his, still with that brave gaiety sparkling in their depths. She gave his arm a tight little squeeze. “My, Billikins, how you’ve grown!” she said, admiringly. “You always were–pretty big. But to-night you’re just–titanic!”

He smiled and touched her cheek, not speaking.

“You fill the world,” she said.

He bent once more to kiss her. “You fill my heart,” he said.

CHAPTER X

THE SACRIFICE

They went round the bungalow together to see to the fastenings of doors and windows. The khitmutgar had gone to his own quarters for the night, and they were quite alone. The drip, drip, drip of the rain was still the only sound, save when the far cry of a prowling jackal came weirdly through the night.

“It’s more gruesome than usual somehow,” said Puck, still fast clinging to her husband’s arm. “I’m not a bit frightened, darling, only sort of creepy at the back. But there’s nobody here but you and me, is there?”

“Nobody,” said Merryon.

“And will you please come and see if there are any snakes or scorpions before I begin to undress?” she said. “The very fact of looking under my bed makes my hair stand on end.”

He went with her and made a thorough investigation, finding nothing.

“That’s all right,” she said, with a sigh of relief. “And yet, somehow, I feel as if something is waiting round the corner to pounce out on us. Is it Fate, do you think? Or just my silly fancy?”