Hitherto he
had appeared to be a reserved man, one who kept tight hand upon himself,
and, if she knew certain things about him, it was rather because she
guessed, or deduced them, than because he allowed them to be seen. On
two occasions only had he shown his heart before her--when they had
spoken together by the shores of Lake Chrissie on the day of the arrival
of the messengers, and he declared his ardent desire for wealth and
power; and quite recently, when he killed the Matabele envoy. Yet she
felt certain that this heart of his was very passionate and insurgent;
that his calm was like the ice that hides the stream, beneath which its
currents run fiercely, none can see whither. The fashion in which his
dark eyes would flash, even when his pale countenance remained unmoved,
told her so, as did other things.
For instance, when he was recovering from his swoon, the first words
that passed his lips were in German, of which she understood a little,
and she thought that they shaped themselves to her name, coupled with
endearing epithets. From that time forward he became less guarded--or,
rather, it seemed as though he were gradually losing power to control
himself. He would grow excited without apparent cause, and begin to
declaim as to what he would do when he had found the gold; how he would
pay the world back all it had caused him to suffer--how he would become
a "king.
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