"
He staggered as if struck in the face, but with a quick, unhesitating
grasp she caught him by the arm and steadied him.
"Why you should stay!" he repeated slowly, in a dazed manner, and stopped
short, astounded at the completeness of his misfortune.
"You told me yesterday," she went on again, "that I could not understand
or see your love for me: it is so. How can I? No two human beings
understand each other. They can understand but their own voices. You
wanted me to dream your dreams, to see your own visions--the visions of
life amongst the white faces of those who cast me out from their midst in
angry contempt. But while you spoke I listened to the voice of my own
self; then this man came, and all was still; there was only the murmur of
his love. You call him a savage! What do you call my mother, your
wife?"
"Nina!" cried Almayer, "take your eyes off my face."
She looked down directly, but continued speaking only a little above a
whisper.
"In time," she went on, "both our voices, that man's and mine, spoke
together in a sweetness that was intelligible to our ears only. You were
speaking of gold then, but our ears were filled with the song of our
love, and we did not hear you. Then I found that we could see through
each other's eyes: that he saw things that nobody but myself and he could
see.
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