mortals to imagine,
or a hell too deep to fathom. To Nell the words spoke of a mystery which
she could not penetrate, but which filled her heart with a joy so great
as almost to still it forever.

"Dearest, I have frightened you!" he said, as she sat so silent and so
motionless. "Forgive me! It seems so sudden to you; but I--I have felt
it for days past, have known it so long, it seems to me. I have been
thinking, dwelling on it. Nell, do you--care for me? Can you love me?"

Her hands unclasped and went with a swift motion to her eyes, and
covered them. His heart sank with a sudden dread. She was not only
frightened; she did not care for him--or was it because she did not
know? She was so young, so girlish, so innocent!

"Forgive me--forgive me!" he pleaded, and he ventured to touch her arm.
"I have--startled you; you did not expect--it was unfair to bring you
here. But I can't take it back. I love you with all my heart and soul.
See, Nell--you will let me call you that? It's the name I love above all
others--the name I think of you by. I--I won't harass you. You--you
shall have time to think. I will go away for--for a few days--and you
shall think over----No, no!" he broke off, springing to his feet and
bending over her with a sudden passion which swept all before it. "I
can't go. I can't leave you again, unless--unless I go forever. I must
have your answer now--now! Speak to me, Nell. 'Yes' or 'No'?"

He drew her hands from her face as she rose, and her eyes were lifted
and met his. Love's sweet surrender shone in them; and, with a cry of
wonder and joy, he caught her to him.

"Nell, Nell!" was all that he could say. "Is it true? You--you love me,
Nell?"

She hid her face on his breast, and her hands trembled on his shoulders.

"Yes--yes," she breathed, almost inaudibly. Then: "Do I?"

CHAPTER XIII.

He took her face in his hands and turned it up to him, but paused as her
lips nearly met his.

"Do you? Why, don't you know, dearest?" he asked tenderly.

"Yes, ah! yes, I do," she said, and the tears sprang to her eyes as
their lips met. "It was because I loved you that I was so sorry when you
went; that every hour and day was a misery to me, and seemed to hang
like lead; it was because I loved you that I could not think of anything
else, and--and all the world became black and dark, and--and--I hated to
be alive. It was because--because of that, was it not?"

He answered with the lover's mute lang