"And don't forget I'm--rather fond of you, my boy!" he said,
with a brief smile over his shoulder as he went away.
No, Robin was not likely to forget that, seeing that Dick's love for him
was his safeguard from all evil, and his love for Dick was the
mainspring of his life. But--though his development was stunted and
imperfect--there were certain facts of existence which he was beginning
slowly but surely to grasp. And one of these--before but dimly
suspected--he had realized fully to-night, a fact beyond all questioning
learnt from Dick's own lips.
Dick's words: "The woman I love," had sunk deep--deep into his soul. And
he knew with that intuition which cannot err that his love for Juliet was
the greatest thing life held for him--or ever could hold again.
And the driving force gripped Robin's soul afresh as he lay wide-eyed to
the smothering gloom of the night. Whatever happened--whoever
suffered--Dicky must have his heart's desire.
CHAPTER VI
THE SISTER OF MERCY
For five days after that burning afternoon of the flower-show Juliet
scarcely left Vera Fielding's side. During those five days Vera lay
at the point of death, and though her husband was constantly with her
it was to Juliet that she clung through all the terrible phases of
weakness, breathlessness, and pain that she passed.
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