Pagina 433 van 896

"And I am very happy to-night, dear father. I am deeply happy in

the love that Heaven has so blessed--my love for Charles, and

Charles's love for me. But, if my life were not to be still

consecrated to you, or if my marriage were so arranged as that it

would part us, even by the length of a few of these streets, I

should be more unhappy and self-reproachful now than I can tell

you. Even as it is--"

Even as it was, she could not command her voice.

In the sad moonlight, she clasped him by the neck, and laid her

face upon his breast. In the moonlight which is always sad, as

the light of the sun itself is--as the light called human life

is--at its coming and its going.

"Dearest dear! Can you tell me, this last time, that you feel

quite, quite sure, no new affections of mine, and no new duties

of mine, will ever interpose between us? I know it well, but do

you know it? In your own heart, do you feel quite certain?"