It was part of
the irony of her position that she was able so much more completely to
appreciate the trials which one lover of hers had undergone through the
confidences which had been made to her by the other.
CHAPTER XV
THE STORY OF THE FIRST FEATHER
"I will not interrupt you," said Ethne, as Willoughby took his seat
beside her, and he had barely spoken a score of words before she broke
that promise.
"I am Deputy-Governor of Suakin," he began. "My chief was on leave in
May. You are fortunate enough not to know Suakin, Miss Eustace,
particularly in May. No white woman can live in that town. It has a
sodden intolerable heat peculiar to itself. The air is heavy with brine;
you can't sleep at night for its oppression. Well, I was sitting in the
verandah on the first floor of the palace about ten o'clock at night,
looking out over the harbour and the distillation works, and wondering
whether it was worth while to go to bed at all, when a servant told me
that a man, who refused to give his name, wished particularly to see me.
The man was Feversham. There was only a lamp burning in the verandah,
and the night was dark, so that I did not recognise him until he was
close to me.
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