have said?" he repeated.

Mavis essayed to speak; her tongue would not give speech.

"I'll tell you. I should have said that I love you, and that nothing in
heaven or earth is going to stop my getting you."

"I must go," she said, without moving.

"When I love you so? Little Mavis, I love you, I love you, I love you!"

She trembled all over. He seized her hand, covered it with kisses, and
then tried to draw her lips to his.

"My hand was enough."

"Your lips! Your lips!"

"But--"

"I love you! Your lips!"

He forced his lips to hers. When he released them, she looked at him as
if spellbound, with eyes veiled with wonder and dismay--with eyes which
revealed the great awakening which had taken place in her being.

"I love little Mavis. I love her," he whispered.

The look in her eyes deepened, her lips trembled, her bosom was
violently disturbed. Perigal touched her arm. Then she gave a little
cry, the while her head fell helplessly upon his shoulder.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE AWAKENING

Mavis was in love, consequently the world was transformed. All her
previous hesitations in surrendering to her incipient love for Perigal
were forgotten; the full, flowing current of her passion disregarded
the trifling obstacles which had once sought to obstruct its progress.
Life, nature, the aspect of things took on the abnormally adorable hues
of those who love and are beloved. Such was the rapture in her heart,
that days, hours, moments were all too fleeting for the enjoyment of
her newborn felicity. The radiant happiness which welled within her, in
seemingly inexhaustible volume, appeared to fill the universe. Often,
with small success, she would attempt to realise the joy that had come
into her life. At other times, when alone, she would softly shed
tears--tears with which shy, happy laughter mingled. She would go about
all day singing snatches of gay little songs. There was not a happier
girl in the world. As if, perhaps, to give an edge to her joy, the
summer sky of her gladness was troubled by occasional clouds. She would
wake in the night with a great presage of fear, which nothing she could
do would remove. At such times, she would clasp with both hands a ring
that her lover had given her, which at night she wore suspended from
her neck, so that it lay upon her heart. At other times, she would be
consumed by a passion for annihilating all thoughts and considerations
for self in her relations with Peri