arce conscious of my wild, impassioned metaphors. It was
she, most precious of all creation; she, my beloved. And there, in the
doorway, she poised, white as a lily, lustrous-eyed, and with hair soft
as sunlit foam. O Divinity of Love, look down on us thy children; fold
us in thy dove-soft wings; illumine us in thy white radiance; touch us
with thy celestial hands. Bless us, Love!

How vastly alight were the grey eyes! How ineffably tender the sweet
lips! A faint glow had come into her cheeks.

"O, it's you, really, really you at last," she cried again, and there
was a tremor, the surface ripple of a sob in that clear voice. She
fetched a deep sigh: "And I thought I'd lost you forever. Wait a moment.
I'll come out."

Endlessly long the moment seemed, yet wondrously irradiate. The shadow
had lifted from the world; the skies were alight with gladness; my heart
was heaven-aspiring in its ecstasy. Then, at last, she came.

She had thrown a shawl around her shoulders, and coaxed her hair into
charming waves and ripples.

"Come, let us go up the trail a little distance. They won't be back for
nearly an hour."

She led the way along that narrow path, looking over her shoulder with a
glorious smile, sometimes extending her hand back to me as one would
with a child.

Along the brow of the bluff the way wound dizzily, while far below the
river swept in a giant eddy. For a long time we spoke no word. 'Twas as
if our hearts were too full for utterance, our happiness too vast for
expression. Yet, O, the sweetness of that silence! The darkling gloom
had silvered into lustrous light, the birds were beginning again their
mad midnight melodies. Then, suddenly turning a bend in the narrow
trail, a blaze of glory leapt upon our sight.

"Look, Berna," I cried.

The swelling river was a lake of saffron fire; the hills a throne of
rosy garnet; the sky a dazzling panoply of rubies, girdled with flames
of gold. We almost cringed, so gorgeous was its glow, so fierce its
splendour.

Then, when we had seated ourselves on the hillside, facing the
conflagration, she turned to me.

"And so you found me, dear. I knew you would, somehow. In my heart I
knew you would not fail me. So I waited and waited. The time seemed
pitilessly long. I only thought of you once, and that was always. It was
cruel we left so suddenly, not even time to say good-bye. I can't tell
you how bad I felt about it, but I could not help myself. They dragged
me away