sful contentment.

"From such hours of exaltation, I am sometimes rudely awakened by a
monster reflex wave of self-examination. Ah, dear heart! It is then that
I ask of my soul: What am I? What have I done? What sweet guardian
spirit guides my life, that I should be made so exceedingly happy by the
priceless love of such a beautiful woman? Am I worthy of such a
blessing? Can I properly appreciate the great good fortune of being
fondly and truly loved by such a peerless woman, who is so dear to me,
so noble, so good, so true; so pure, so bright, so beautiful; so truly
wise, so eloquent; in every way so well fitted by birth, wealth, and
education to reign as queen in the most brilliant and most exclusive
circles of the social world; even in the grandly beautiful city of
Washington, where the princes and potentates of the earth, lords of
other lands, of wealth and fashion of high degree, vie with each other
and with the republic's most honored statesmen, for one smile, one look
of recognition from this marvelous woman, who is everywhere recognized
as the dominant center of attraction? Oh, the wonder of it! This is she
who holds the key to my heart!

"Ah, my adored one! As this picture of your life fills my mind, I wonder
what would happen to me under such circumstances, with any other woman
in your place. I know I should be both furiously jealous and foolishly
despondent: but with you, the very apotheosis of truth and
honesty!--Impossible! It could not be: so base a thought would perish
with the thinking! I know you are as true as steel. The pure soul which
shines from your eyes has spoken to mine. I am content; I fear not; I
know that the compass of your love is constancy.

"Oh! my darling! Chosen one of my soul! How great is the mystery of
love! How priceless the blessing it brings to the lover! How brilliant
the constellation, how spiritualizing the multitude of new thoughts to
which it gives birth! How I pity those who have not been touched and
quickened by the life-giving power of love! How sad and desolate is the
pathway of the soul so unfortunate as to be shut away from the sunshine
of love! Better, far better, to die of love! To die of love is to live
by it! It is to have discovered the great deeps of the infinite: for
love itself is a revelation of the infinite! The aspiration of love is
the inspiration of paradise. Who can understand the significance, or the
great mystery of immortality, or the fulness of the p