and divine moment of joy, that comes but once in a man's life,
when he holds the woman he loves for the first time to his heart! Once,
and once only, he tastes of heaven and forgets life itself in the short
and delirious draught. What envious deity shall grudge him those moments
of rapture, all too sweet, and, alas! all too short!
To Vera and Maurice, locked in each other's arms, time had no shore, and
life was not. It might have been ten seconds, it might have been an
eternity--they could not have told--no pang entered that serene haven
where their souls were lapped in perfect happiness; no serpent entered
into Eden; no harsh note struck upon their enchanted ears, nor jarring
sight upon their sun-dazzled vision. Where in that moment was the duty
and the honour that was a part of the man's very self? What to Vera was
the rich marriage and the life of affluence, and all the glitter and
tinsel which it had been her soul's desire to attain? She remembered it
not; like a house of cards, it had fallen shattered to the ground.
They loved, and they were together. There was neither duty, nor faith,
nor this world's wisdom between them; nothing but that great joy which on
earth has no equal, and which Heaven itself cannot exceed.
But brief are the moments whilst joy, with bated breath and folded wings,
pauses on his flight; too soon, alas! is the divine elixir dashed away
from our lingering lips.
Already, for Maurice and for Vera, it is over, and they have awakened to
earth once more.
It is the man who is the first to remember. "Good God, Vera!" he cries,
pushing her back from him, "what terrible misfortune is this? Can it be
true that you must suffer too, that you love me?"
"Why not?" she answered, looking at him; happy still, but troubled too;
for already for her also Paradise is over. "Is it so hard to believe? And
yet many women must have loved you. But I--I have never loved before.
Listen, Maurice: when I accepted your brother, I liked him, I thought I
could be very happy with him; and--and--do not think ill of me--I wanted
so much to be rich; it was so miserable being poor and dependent, and I
knew life so well, and how hard the struggle is for those who are poor.
I was so determined I would do well for myself; and he was good, and I
liked him."
At the mention of the brother, whom he had wronged, Maurice hid his face
in his hands and groaned aloud.
She laid her hand softly upon his knee; she had half raise
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