, every syllable was fraught with love, and
went straight to the very core of my heart.

By-and-by, when our transport had calmed to joy, I asked when I might
next see her, and how and where I might find her when I should want to.
She did not reply directly, but, holding me close in her arms, whispered
in my ear with that breathless softness which is a lover's rapture of
speech:

"I have come here under terrible difficulties, not only because I love
you--and that would be enough--but because, as well as the joy of seeing
you, I wanted to warn you."

"To warn me! Why?" I queried. Her reply came with a bashful hesitation,
with something of a struggle in it, as of one who for some ulterior
reason had to pick her words:

"There are difficulties and dangers ahead of you. You are beset with
them; and they are all the greater because they are, of grim necessity,
hidden from you. You cannot go anywhere, look in any direction, do
anything, say anything, but it may be a signal for danger. My dear, it
lurks everywhere--in the light as well as in the darkness; in the open as
well as in the secret places; from friends as well as foes; when you are
least prepared; when you may least expect it. Oh, I know it, and what it
is to endure; for I share it for you--for your dear sake!"

"My darling!" was all I could say, as I drew her again closer to me and
kissed her. After a bit she was calmer; seeing this, I came back to the
subject that she had--in part, at all events--come to me to speak about:

"But if difficulty and danger hedge me in so everlastingly, and if I am
to have no indication whatever of its kind or purpose, what can I do?
God knows I would willingly guard myself--not on my own account, but for
your dear sake. I have now a cause to live and be strong, and to keep
all my faculties, since it may mean much to you. If you may not tell me
details, may you not indicate to me some line of conduct, of action, that
would be most in accord with your wishes--or, rather, with your idea of
what would be best?"

She looked at me fixedly before speaking--a long, purposeful, loving look
which no man born of woman could misunderstand. Then she spoke slowly,
deliberately, emphatically:

"Be bold, and fear not. Be true to yourself, to me--it is the same
thing. These are the best guards you can use. Your safety does not rest
with me. Ah, I wish it did! I wish to God it did!" In my inner heart
it thrilled me not merely t