It was useless; it was no dream; he was still there, this man she had neither seen nor heard of for five years because her will was stronger than her desire, this man who had broken her heart as children break toys! And deep below all this present terror was the abiding truth that she still loved him and always would love him.

The shame of this knowledge did more than all else to rouse and to nerve her.
"Karl ?" It was like an echo.
"Yes." There was war in his voice and attitude and not without reason.
He had wronged this woman, not with direct intention it was true, but nevertheless he had wronged her; and her presence here could mean nothing less than that fate had selected this spot for the reckoning.
She could topple down his carefully reared schemes with the same ease with which he had blown over hers.

And to him these schemes were life to his breath and salt to his blood, everything.

What was one woman?
cynically.

"Yes, it is I," in the tongue native to them both.
"And what do you here ?" "I am Admiral Killigrew's private secretary." He wet his lips.