"I have another gift for you, Nicholas Jelnik." To save my life I
couldn't keep my voice from shaking, my eyes from glittering, my
cheeks from flaming. "Do not go, old Jinnee. Stay and see what gift
I bring the master."
Then it occurred to me that it would be dangerous should strange or
greedy eyes look upon what my sewing-bag hid. The thought frightened
me."
"You are sure there is none to see? Achmet, there is no stranger
around?"
"We are alone," said the black man, quietly. Both of them seemed
astonished and concerned.
Reassured, I drew forth the heavy buckskin bag and placed it in
Nicholas Jelnik's hands.
"From Hynds House--and me--and oh, Nicholas, from Beautiful Dog,
too!" I said, and laughed and cried.
For the moment he didn't understand. He thought it some loving
woman-foolishness of Sophy's, some woman-gift she had made for him.
I knew, for he gave me a glance of tenderness. And then he opened
the bag, and staggered like a drunken man, and sank into the nearest
chair, trembling like a leaf in the wind. The Hynds fortune had come
back to the last of Richard's blood.
When the mist cleared from my eyes, I saw old Achmet on the floor,
with his hands upraised and tears running down his black cheeks
like rain, unashamedly and unaffectedly pouring out praises and
thanksgivings to his Creator.
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