the
minutes to one, and from that time until he left the hotel each second
was tabulated in his mind. Arriving at her residence, he was ushered
into the drawing-room. It was fragrant with the perfume of violets, and
he stood gazing at her portrait expectant of her coming.

Dressed in simple white, entrancing in her youthful freshness, she
entered, her face glowing with happiness, her eyes languorous and
expressive. She hastened to him, offering both hands. He held them in
a loving, tender grasp, and for a moment neither spoke. Then she,
gazing clearly and fearlessly into his eyes, said: "My heart has found
its melody!"

He, kneeling like Sir Gareth of old: "The song and the singer are yours
forever."

She, bidding him arise: "And I forever yours." And wondering at her
boldness, she added, "I know and feel that you love me--your eyes
confirmed your love before you spoke." Then, convincingly and
ingenuously, "I knew you loved me the moment we first met. Then I did
not understand what that meant to you, now I do."

He drew her gently to him, and the motive of their happiness was
defined in sweet confessions: "My love, my life--My life, my love."

The magic of his music had changed her very being, the breath of love
was in her soul, the vision of love was dancing in her eyes. The child
of marble, like the statue of old, had come to life:

"And not long since
I was a cold, dull stone! I recollect
That by some means I knew that I was stone;
That was the first dull gleam of consciousness;
I became conscious of a chilly self,
A cold, immovable identity.
I knew that I was stone, and knew no more!
Then, by an imperceptible advance,
Came the dim evidence of outer things,
Seen--darkly and imperfectly--yet seen
The walls surrounding me, and I, alone.
That pedestal--that curtain--then a voice
That called on Galatea! At that word,
Which seemed to shake my marble to the core,
That which was dim before, came evident.
Sounds, that had hummed around me, indistinct,
Vague, meaningless--seemed to resolve themselves
Into a language I could understand;
I felt my frame pervaded by a glow
That seemed to thaw my marble into flesh;
Its cold, hard substance throbbed with active life,
My limbs grew supple, and I moved--I lived!
Lived in the ecstasy of a new-born life!
Lived in the love of him that fashioned me!
Lived in a thousand tangled thoughts of hope."

Day after