Diamond had brought his burden safely out of the storm, and was now comfortably sheltered in his own stable.  But the man who had ridden him had been found hours later by the big baas face downwards on the stoep, and now he lay in the room in which he had lain for so long, with breathing that waxed and waned and sometimes stopped, and eyes that wandered vaguely round as though seeking something which they might never find.

What were they looking for?  Sylvia longed to know.  In the hush of that room with the light of the early morning breaking through, it seemed to her that those eyes were mutely waiting for a message from Beyond.  They did not know her even when they rested upon her face.

She herself was worn out both physically and mentally, but she would not leave him.  And so Burke had brought in the long chair for her and made her lie down while she watched.  He brought her food also, and they ate together in the quiet room where the ever-changing breathing of the man upon the bed was the only sound.

He would have left them alone then, but she whispered to him to come back.

He came and bent over her.  “I’ll smoke on the stoep,” he said.  “You have only to raise your voice if you want-me, and I shall hear.”

She slipped her arms about his neck, and drew him down to her.  “I want you—­all the time,” she whispered.

He kissed her on lips and hair, but he would not stay.  She heard him pass out on to the stoep, and there fell a deep silence.

It seemed to lap her round like a vast and soundless sea.  Presently she was drifting upon it, sometimes dipping under, sometimes bringing herself to the surface with a deliberate effort of the will, lest Guy should come back and need her.  She was unutterably tired, and the rest was balm to her weary soul, but still, she fought against complete repose, until, like the falling of a mist, oblivion came at last very softly upon her, and she sank into the deeps of slumber. . . .

It must have been some time later that something spoke within her, recalling her.  She raised herself quickly and looked at Guy to find his eyes no longer roving but fixed upon her.  She thought his breathing must be easier, for he spoke without effort.

“Fetch Burke!” he said.

She started up to obey.  There was that about Guy at the moment which she had never seen before, a curious look of knowledge, a strength new-born that, was purely spiritual.  But ere she reached the window, Burke was there.  He came straight in and went to Guy.  And she knew that the end was very near.

Instinctively she drew back as the two men met.  She had a strong feeling that her presence was not needed, was almost an intrusion.  Yet she could not bring herself to go, till suddenly Burke turned to her and drew her forward.

“He wants you to say good-bye to him,” he said, “and then—­to go.”