The song had the wild swing of savage life, the deep sweetness of a monotone, but it had also the fine intelligence, the subtle allusiveness of romance.

He could read between the lines.

The allegory touched him where his nerves were sensitive.
Where she had gone he could not go until his eyes had seen and known what hers had seen and known; he could not grasp his happiness all in a moment; she was no longer at his feet, but equal with him, and wiser than he.

She had not meant the song to be allusive when she began, but to speak to him through it by singing the heathen song as his own sister might sing it.

As the song went on, however, she felt the inherent suggestion in it, so that when she had finished it required all her strength to get up calmly, come among them again, and listen to their praises and thanks.