mised
husband of another; and you--'

"She forced me to open my eyes.

"'And I?' she repeated, with an indescribable emphasis that called up
the blushes to my cheek.

"'And you,' I went on, answering her demand without hesitation, 'the
beloved of an honest man who would die to keep you true, and will die if
you play him false!'

"She sighed. Softness took the place of scorn; she involuntarily held
out her hand.

"I was amazed; she had never done so much before. I seized that hand, I
pressed it wildly, hungrily, and with lingering fondness.

"'Do you not know that you are everything to me?' I asked. 'That to win
you I am ready to do everything, barter anything, suffer anything but
shame! You are my fate, Marah; will you not let me be yours?'

"She was silent; she had drawn her hand from mine and had locked it in
its fellow, and now stood with them hanging down before her, fixed as a
statue, in a reverie I could neither fathom nor break.

"'You are beautiful,' I went on, 'too beautiful for me; but I love you.
You are proud, also, and would grace the noblest palaces of the old
world; but they are far away, and my home is near and eager to welcome
you. You are dainty and have never taught your hands to toil, or your
feet to walk our common earth; but there are affections that sweeten
labor, and under my roof you will be so honored, so aided and so
beloved, that you will soon learn there are pleasures of the fireside
that can compensate for its cares, and triumphs of the affections that
are beyond the dignities of outside life.'

"Her lip curled and her hands parted. She lifted one rosy palm and
looked at it, then she glanced at me.

"'I shall never work,' she said.

"My heart contracted, but I could not give her up. Madness as it was to
put faith and life in the grasp of such a woman, I was too little of a
man or too much of a one to turn my back upon a hope which, even in its
realization, could bring me nothing but pain.

"'You shall not work,' I declared. And I meant it. If I died she should
not handle anything harsher than rose leaves in her new home.

"'You want me?' She breathed it. I stood in a gasp of hope and fear.

"'More than I want heaven! Or, rather, you are my heaven.'

"'We will be married before Honora,' she murmured. And gliding from my
side before I had recovered from the shock of a promise so unexpected, a
bliss so unforeseen and immediate, she vanished from my sight, and
nothing but the