disturb the
sweet mysterious whispers of the lovers.

"When shall you return?" asked the girl.

"When I can make you happy."

"Your love alone can do that. You need not sail the sea for my
happiness, it could be gained by seeing you always at my side."

"That is what children think. I wish we could never outgrow the belief.
But--in the hands of the poor everything is poor, even happiness."

The young girl shook her head.

Meanwhile they reached a copse which concealed the shore, and here the
young man stopped.

"Don't go any farther; my companions are rough sailors, I do not wish
them to disturb our parting. Turn back now. Our grandmother is expecting
you."

The two sisters, with many kisses, embraces, and tears, turned back, but
Julietta still clung to her departing lover, whispering in stifled
tones.

"Take me with you."

The youth trembled from head to foot and gazed with a blanched face at
the young girl, who still clasped him in a convulsive embrace.

"What are you thinking of? You would come with me--to sea?"

"I should be happy anywhere with you. I should not fear the storms, the
sight of your face would give me courage. I should be happy if I might
share with you every peril, every privation, which you must now
encounter alone; and if it were not God's will that we should ever
attain our goal, I could at least die with you."

William's face clouded still more. What love! What self-sacrifice! A
Paradise opened before him. But at the portal of that Paradise stood an
angel with a flaming sword, saying: "Back, your name is Robert
Barthelemy."

"I have often thought," said the girl trembling, "that some day when you
return and ask, 'Where is Julietta? Why doesn't she come to meet me?'
they will lead you to a flowery mound and say: 'She waited long, waited
until her heart broke, she faded away and now rests here'--will you not
then say to yourself: 'Why did I not take her with me?'"

"Do not talk so! Do not talk so!" exclaimed the lover, in a voice choked
with anguish. "What you ask is impossible. Go back."

The girl grew as white as a lily, her arms fell from her lover's neck,
her beautiful head drooped upon her breast.

He caught the fainting figure in his arms and laid it gently on the
grass, pressed a kiss on the colorless face, and then rushed through the
copse like a madman.

* * * * *

Barthelemy thrust the scarlet plume in his hat and joined his men; no