it were almost alone in space."

"I will get it for you," said Stephen; and, before Mercy could speak to
restrain him, he was far down the precipice. With a low ejaculation of
terror, Mercy closed her eyes. She would not look on Stephen in such
peril. She did not move nor open her eyes, until he stood by her side,
exclaiming, "Why, Mercy! my darling, do not look so! There was no danger,"
and he laid the little plant in her hand. She looked at it in silence for
a moment, and then said,--

"Oh, Stephen! to risk your life for such a thing as that! The sight of it
will always make me shudder."

"Then I will throw it away," said Stephen, endeavoring to take it from her
hand; but she held it only the tighter, and whispered,--

"No! oh, what a moment! what a moment! I shall keep this flower as long as
I live!" And she did,--kept it wrapped in a paper, on which were written
the following lines:--

A MOMENT.

Lightly as an insect floating
In the sunny summer air,
Waved one tiny snow-white blossom,
From a hidden crevice growing,
Dainty, fragile-leaved, and fair,
Where great rocks piled up like mountains,
Well-nigh to the shining heavens,
Rose precipitous and bare,
With a pent-up river rushing,
Foaming as at boiling heat
Wildly, madly, at their feet.

Hardly with a ripple stirring
The sweet silence by its tone,
Fell a woman's whisper lightly,--
"Oh, the dainty, dauntless blossom!
What deep secret of its own
Keeps it joyous and light-hearted,
O'er this dreadful chasm swinging,
Unsupported and alone,
With no help or cheer from kindred?
Oh, the dainty, dauntless thing,
Bravest creature of the spring!"

Then the woman saw her lover,
For one instant saw his face,
Down the precipice slow sinking,
Looking up at her, and sending
Through the shimmering, sunny space
Look of love and subtle triumph,
As he plucked the tiny blossom
In its airy, dizzy place,--
Plucked it, smiling, as if danger
Were not danger to the hand
Of true lover in love's land.

In her hands her face she buried,
At her heart the blood grew chill;
In that one brief moment crowded
The whole anguish of a lifetime,
Made her every pulse stand still.
Like one dead she sat and waited,
Listening to the stirless silence,
Ages in a second, till,
Lightly leaping, came her lover,
And, still smiling, laid the sweet
Snow-white