"'My, it's great," he said, and his eyes were blinking
with tears. Presently he pointed. "There's a woman riding to meet us, Saa
dat. Golly, can't she ride! She means to be in it--to salute the
returning brave."
He did not glance at David. If he had done so, he would have seen that
David's face had taken on a strange look, just such a look as it wore
that night in the monastery when he saw Hylda in a vision and heard her
say: "Speak, speak to me!"
There had shot into David's mind the conviction that the woman riding
towards them was Hylda. Hylda, the first to welcome him back, Hylda--Lady
Eglington! Suddenly his face appeared to tighten and grow thin. It was
all joy and torture at once. He had fought this fight out with
himself--had he not done so? Had he not closed his heart to all but duty
and Egypt? Yet there she was riding out of the old life, out of Hamley,
and England, and all that had happened in Cairo, to meet him. Nearer and
nearer she came. He could not see the face, but yet he knew. He quickened
his camel and drew ahead of Lacey.
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