m hand, and imprison it
within mine, if thou didst hate me. I do not lightly ask that precious
boon, thy love. Believe me, it is as I say," continued he, earnestly
bending upon her his deep, dark, eloquent eyes--eyes that made her
little heart thrill to its very core. "It is as I tell thee, thou hast
been my dream by day and by night. See here," and he drew from his
bosom a small miniature, and handed it to her--the exact image
of--herself. "And now I will tell thee what I never before told mortal
being. Just three years ago, after a fatiguing day's fight, I lay in
my tent, awake; and thou didst come to me, just as thou now dost
appear--a vision of light and purity and glorious loveliness. Whether
it was a dream or not, or a trance, I know not; but never since has
that radiant vision left me. Thou didst lay thy little soft, white
hand upon my fevered brow, and I heard most distinctly, as thy sweet
face bent over me, these words: 'Do not love other than me, for I
alone, on earth, am destined for thee.' From my earliest boyhood have
I loved to use the pencil; and on the next morning I tried, and
succeeded in conveying to this bit of ivory the image of that most,
most beautiful vision; and I have worn it upon my heart ever since,
where I would the loved, deeply, dearly loved and beautiful original
might ever be. From then till now have I worn next to my heart that
semblance of my nightly, daily dream; but never until now have I been
blessed in seeing my dream, living, breathing before me."

How that young heart throbbed and bounded, almost suffocating its
loving, lovely owner with the intensity of its joyous emotion, as the
earnest tones of that low, passionate voice fell, word by word, into
its inmost centre, as the glance of those deeply, deeply loving eyes
awoke it to life and love. Her hand lay within his, and by little he
drew her more and more closely and warmly to his heart, and by little
her head gradually sunk upon his manly breast, her eyes looked up
tenderly and trustingly into his and drank in his passionate gaze, as
though it were her life. Time flew by them unheeded, each pouring out
joy and life into the heart of the other. Their very being melting and
mingling each into the other, until each felt that their two lives
were one. Nor did he sully those pure, exquisite lips, with one
earthly kiss. His soul kissed hers, and her own vibrated to his in
trembling unison.

Such moments of intense soul-rapture do n