She had said to him in days long gone, that if she could
ever speak to him across the Void, she would; and he had the fullest
belief now that she had done so.
So it was that this dreadnought of industry and organization, in dock for
repairs, cheerfully awaited the hour when he would be launched again upon
the tide of work-healthy, healed and whole. At last there came the day
when, for an instant, the bandages could be removed. There were present,
Rockwell, Fleda, and Jim--Jim, pale but grinning, at the foot of the bed;
Fleda, with her back against the door and her hands clenched behind her
as though to shut out the invading world. Never had her heart beat as it
beat now, but her eyes were steady and bright. There was in them,
however, a kind of pleading look. She could not see Ingolby's face; did
not want to see it when the bandages were taken off; but at the critical
moment she shut her eyes and her back held the door, as though a thousand
were trying to force an entrance.
The first words after the bandages were removed came from Ingolby.
"Well, Jim, you look all right!" he said.
Swaying as she went, Fleda half-blindly moved towards a chair near by and
sank into it. She scarcely heard Jim's reply.
"Looking all right yourself, Chief.
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