Indeed all within was dead, only the shell of flesh remained
alive, and in my heart I echoed the words of my old uncle and of a wiser
than he who went before him--"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!"
It was Kari who spoke first, Kari as ever calm and even-voiced, saying
in his broken English of which but the substance is recorded:
"Things have happened, good things I hold, though you, Master, may think
otherwise for a little while. Yet in this rough land of savages and
small justice these things may bring trouble. That lord brought a
writing," and he nodded towards the document on the table, "and talked
of death for _you_, Master--not for himself. And the lady, while she
still lived, she say--'Fly, fly or die!' And now?" and he glanced at the
two bodies.
I looked at him vacantly for the numbness following the first shock was
passing away and all the eating agony of my loss began to fix its fangs
upon my heart.
"Whither can I fly?" I asked. "And why should I fly? I am an innocent
man and for the rest, the sooner I am dead the better."
"My Master must fly," answered Kari in swift, broken words, "because he
still live and is free.
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