There was a great tenderness in
her for him. There were times when she would have given the world
to have gone into his arms and let him hold her there, protected
and shielded. But that night she was the stronger, and she knew it.
"I love you, Audrey. I love you terribly,"
And that was the word for it. It was terrible. She knew it.
"To have gone through all the world," he said, brokenly, "and then
to find the Woman, when it is too late. Forever too late." He
turned toward her. "You know it, don't you? That you are my woman?"
"I know it," she answered, steadily. "But I know, too - "
"Let me say it just once. Then never again. I'll bury it, but
you will know it is there. You are my woman. I would go through
all of life alone to find you at the end. And if I could look
forward, dear, to going through the rest of it with you beside me,
so I could touch you, like this - "
"I know."
"If I could only protect you, and shield you - oh, how tenderly I
could care for you, my dear, my dear!"
The strength passed to him, then.
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