"
He released her, and, stepping back a few paces out of the circle of
light, stood in the darkness looking at them with calm interest. The
reflection of a distant flash of lightning lit up the clouds over their
heads, and was followed after a short interval by the faint rumble of
thunder, which mingled with Almayer's voice as he began to speak.
"Do you know what you are doing? Do you know what is waiting for you if
you follow that man? Have you no pity for yourself? Do you know that
you shall be at first his plaything and then a scorned slave, a drudge,
and a servant of some new fancy of that man?"
She raised her hand to stop him, and turning her head slightly, asked--
"You hear this Dain! Is it true?"
"By all the gods!" came the impassioned answer from the darkness--"by
heaven and earth, by my head and thine I swear: this is a white man's
lie. I have delivered my soul into your hands for ever; I breathe with
your breath, I see with your eyes, I think with your mind, and I take you
into my heart for ever."
"You thief!" shouted the exasperated Almayer.
A deep silence succeeded this outburst, then the voice of Dain was heard
again.
"Nay, Tuan," he said in a gentle tone, "that is not true also.
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