"There is--no bond between us!" she gasped forth
piteously. "There never--never has been!"
He flung back the words like a missile, unerring, blindingly direct. "No
bond between us! Good God! Would I follow you through death if there were
not?" And then suddenly, with an amazing change to tenderness that leapt
the void and enchained her where she stood:--"Toby--Toby, you little
ass--don't you know I've loved you from the moment _The Night Moth_
struck?"
There was no questioning the truth of those words. A great sob broke from
Toby, and the tension went out of her attitude. She stood for a few
seconds with her head raised, and on her face the unutterable rapture of
one who sees a vision. Then, with sharp anguish, "I can't come back!" she
cried like a frightened child. "I'm going to fall!"
Saltash straightened himself. His forehead was wet, but he did not pause
for a moment. "I'm coming to you," he said. "Keep as you are and I'll
give you a hand to hold!"
She obeyed him as one dazed into submission. Blindly she waited, till
with a monkey-like agility, he also had traversed that giddy ledge to
where she stood. His fingers met and gripped her own.
"Now," he said, "come with me and you are safe! You can't fall.
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