Part 47 (2/2)

The emphasis was not lost on Roy:--and it hurt. Last night's poignant scene was intimately with him still. ”I'm afraid you won't persuade her to,” he said in a contained voice.

”I am quite aware of _that_. And the reason--even a blind man could not fail to see.”

They looked straight at one another for a long moment. Roy did not swerve from the implied accusation.

”Well, it's no fault of mine, Dyan,” he said, recalling Aruna's confession that tacitly freed him from blame. ”_She_ understands--there's a bigger thing between us than our mere selves.

Whatever I'm free to do for her, I'll gladly do--always. It was chiefly to ease her poor heart that I risked the Delhi adventure. I felt I had lost the link with _you_.”

”Not surprising.” Dyan smoked for a few minutes in silence. He was clearly moved by the fine frankness of Roy's att.i.tude. ”All the same,”

he said at last, ”it was not quite broken. You have given me new life; and because you did it--for her, I swear to you, as long as she needs me, I will not fail her.” He held out his hand. Roy's closed on it hard.

”Later in the morning I will come back and see her,” Dyan added, in a changed voice--and went out.

Later in the morning, Roy himself was allowed to see her. With the help of his stick he limped to her verandah balcony, where she lay in a long chair, with cus.h.i.+ons and rugs, the poor arm in a sling. Thea was with her. She had heard as much of last night's doings as any one would ever know. So she felt justified in letting the poor dears have half an hour together.

Her withdrawal was tactfully achieved; but there followed an awkward silence. For the s.p.a.ce of several minutes it seemed that neither of the 'poor dears' knew quite what to make of their privilege, though they were appreciating it from their hearts.

Roy found himself too persistently aware of the arm that had been broken to save him; of the new bond between them, signed and sealed by that one unforgettable kiss.

As for Aruna--while pain anch.o.r.ed her body to earth, her unstable heart swayed disconcertingly from heights of rarefied content, to depths of shyness. Things she had said and done, on that far-away hillside, seemed unbelievable, remembered in her familiar balcony with a daylight mind: and fear lest he might be 'thinking it that way too' increased shyness tenfold. Yet it was she who spoke first, after all.

”Oh, it makes me angry ... to see you--like that,” she said, indicating his ankle with a faint movement of her hand.

Roy quietly took possession of the hand and pressed it to his lips.

”How do you suppose _I_ feel, seeing _you_ like that!” Words and act dispelled her foolish fears. ”Did you sleep? Does it hurt much?”

”Only if I forget and try to move. But what matter? Every time it hurts, I feel proud because that feeble arm was able to push you out of the way.”

”You've every right to feel proud. You nearly knocked me over!”

A mischievous smile crept into her eyes. ”I am afraid ... I was very rude!”

”That's _one_ way of putting it!” His grave tenderness warmed her like suns.h.i.+ne. He leaned nearer; his hand grasped the arm of her long chair.

”You were a very wonderful Aruna last night. And--you are going to be more wonderful still. Working with Dyan, you are going to help make my dream come true--of India finding herself again by her own genius, along her own lines----”

He had struck the right note. Her face lit up as he had hoped to see it.

”Oh, Roy--can I really----? Will Dyan help? Will he _let_ me----”

”Of course he will. And I'll be helping too--in my own fas.h.i.+on. We'll never lose touch, Aruna; though India's your destiny and England's mine.

Never say again you have no true country. Like me, you have two countries--one very dear; one supreme. I'm afraid there are terrible days coming out here. And in those days every one of you who honestly loves England--every one of _us_ who honestly loves India--will count in the scale ...”

He paused; and she drew a deep breath. ”Oh--how you _see_ things! It is you who are wonderful, Roy. I can think and feel the big things in my heart. But for doing them--I am, after all, only a woman....”

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