For a moment he was frightened.

He could not see that she was breathing.

So still was she that she was like one dead.
His footsteps were unheard as he moved across the room.

He knelt down beside her, reached out his arms, and gathered her into them.
"Marette!" he cried in a low voice.
He felt the sudden quiver, like a little shock, that ran through her.
He crushed his face down, so that it lay in her hair, still damp from its wetting.

He drew her closer, tightening his arms about her slender body, and a little cry came from her a cry that was a broken thing, a sob without tears.
"Marette!" It was all he said.