Therefore Quilla alone was left to me, and Quilla was about to be taken
away. Oh! I wearied of this strange land with its snowclad mountains and
rich valleys, its hordes of dark-skinned people with large eyes, smiling
faces, and secret hearts; its great cities, temples, and palaces filled
with useless gold and silver; its brilliant sunshine and rushing rivers,
its gods, kings, and policies. They were alien to me, every one of
them, and if Quilla were taken away and I were left quite alone, then I
thought that it would be well to die.
Something moved behind a palm trunk of the avenue in which I walked, and
not knowing whether it were beast or man, I laid my hand upon my sword
which I still wore, although I had taken off the armour. Before I could
draw it my wrist was grasped and a soft voice whispered in my ear:
"Fear nothing; it is I--Quilla."
Quilla it was, wrapped in a long hooded cloak such as the peasant women
wear in the cold country, for she threw back the hood and a beam of
starlight fell upon her face.
"Hearken!" she said. "It is dangerous to both of us, but I have come to
bid you farewell.
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