Maria was not changed, save that the bright rosy colour of her cheeks
had increased under the effects of better health; and she had attained
a true majesty of beauty which far exceeded that which Zora used to
look on with wonder at Juldroog. Zora seated her beside her on the
cushions, but she could not give vent to her feelings of delight. Her
loving brown eyes looked up like those of a dog to her friend; she
threw her arms round her, and kissed her forehead, her eyes, her lips,
passionately, hardly able to speak, except to say, "Thou art here,
Maria, and restored to me. Oh, yes, to me, who in all my troubles and
tears have never forgotten thee; and this which thou gavest me," and
she drew the little silver cross from her bosom, "has never left me,
and has been my charm and deliverer of my honour when all hope of my
deliverance seemed gone. And thou hast been happy, Maria?"