r how false his croakings had been in that
old dead time so long ago as last night. But she was asleep. And she
needed sleep. She had been greatly troubled by his troubles. She had
been anxious for him and the children. She had so many things to worry
over that never troubled him. She had wept and been angry because she
could not make him understand. Her very wrath was a way of crying: "I
love you! You hurt me!"

He must let her sleep. Her beauty and her graces needed sleep. It was
his blessed privilege to guard her slumbers, his pride to house her well
and to see that she slept in fabrics suited to the delicate fabric of
her exquisite body.

But if only she might chance to be awake that he might tell her how
sorry he was that he had been weak and wicked enough to torment her with
his baseless fears and his unreasonable ire. At least he must touch her
with tenderness. Even though she slept, he must give her the benediction
of one light caress.

He put his hand out cautiously toward her. He laid his fingers gently on
her cheek. How beautiful it was even in the dark! But it was wet! with
tears! Suddenly her little invisible fingers closed upon his hand like
grape tendrils.

But this did not prove her awake. So habited they were to each other
that even in their sleep their bodies gave or answered such endearments.

He waited till his loneliness for her was unendurable, then he breathed,
softly:

"Are you asleep, honey?"

For answer she whirled into his bosom and clenched him in her arms and
wept--in whispers lest the children hear. He petted her tenderly and
kissed her hair and her eyelids and murmured:

"Did I wake you, honey?"

"No, no!" she sobbed. "I've been awake for hours."

"But you didn't move!"

"I was afraid to waken you. You need your rest so much. I've been
thinking how hard you work, how good you are. I'm so ashamed of myself
for--"

"But it was all my fault, honey."

"Oh no, no, my dear, my dear!"

He let her have the last word; for an enormous contentedness filled his
heart. He drew the covers about her shoulder and held her close and
breathed deep of the companionship of the soul he had chosen. He
breathed so deeply that his head drooped over hers, his cheek upon her
hair. The night seemed to bend above them and mother them and say to
them, "Hush! hush! and sleep!"

There are many raptures in the world, and countless beautiful moments,
and not the least of them is this solemn marriage i