She had clasped her hands tightly in the first instant of surprise, and stood looking at him, with fear and pleasure struggling for mastery in her eloquent countenance.

“Edna, have you no word of welcome, no friendly hand, to offer a man who has been wandering for four long years among strangers in distant lands?”

It was not the harsh, bitter voice whose mocking echoes had haunted her ears during his absence, but a tone so low and deep and mournful, so inexplicably sweet, and she could not recognize it as his, and, unable to utter a word, she put her hand in his outstretched palm.  His fingers closed over it with a pressure that was painful, and her eyes fell beneath the steady, searching gaze he fixed on her face.

For fully a minute they stood motionless; then he took a match from his pocket, lighted a gas globe that hung over the Taj, and locked the door leading into the rotunda.

“My mother is dining out, Hagar informed me.  Tell me, is she well?  And have you made her happy while I was far away?”

He came back, leaned his elbow on the carved top of the cushioned chair, and partly shading his eyes with his hand, looked down into the girl’s face.

“Your mother is very well indeed, but anxious and unhappy on your account, and I think you will find her thinner and paler than when you saw her last.”

“Then you have not done your duty, as I requested?”

“I could not take your place, sir, and your last letter led her to believe that you would be absent for another year.  She thinks that at this instant you are in the heart of Persia.  Last night, when the servant came from the post-office without the letter which she confidently expected, her eyes filled with tears, and she said, ’He has ceased to think of his home, and loves the excitement of travel better than his mother’s peace of mind.’  Why did you deceive her?  Why did you rob her of all the joy of anticipating your speedy return?”

As she glanced at him, she saw the old scowl settling heavily between his eyes, and the harshness had crept back to the voice that answered: 

“I did not deceive her.  It was a sudden and unexpected circumstance that determined my return.  Moreover, she should long since have accustomed herself to find happiness from other sources than my society; for no one knows better my detestation of settling down in any fixed habitation.”

Edna felt all her childish repugnance sweeping over her as she saw the swift hardening of his features, and she turned toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To send a messenger to your mother, acquainting her with your arrival.  She would not forgive me if I failed to give her such good tidings at the very earliest moment.”

“You will do no such thing.  I forbid any message.  She thinks me in the midst of Persian ruins, and can afford to wait an hour longer among her friends.  How happened it that you also are not at Mrs. Inge’s?”