on--on beneath the
loaded boughs of the fruit garden, and on by the low sod wall, then out
in the open, and finally into gloom beneath the drooping, feathery
branches of the willows. It was a silence unbroken by either, unless--
unless for a soft shuddering sigh, which followed upon a long kiss.

In the dark and velvety moonless vault great constellations flashed as
though they were fires, throwing out the black loom of the distant
mountains away beyond the open waste, and flaming down into the smooth
mirror of the water, upon which the willow boughs trailed. Even beneath
the shadowy gloom their light pierced; shining upon the white dress, and
throwing the large, supple figure of the girl into ghostly relief.

"I love you, Mona. Here on the very spot where we first beheld each
other, I tell you I love you. And you had better have let me fall to my
death, shattered to atoms that day, than that I should tell it you."

The tone, a trifle unsteady, but firm and low, was rather that of a man
unfolding a revelation of a painful but wholly unavoidable nature than
the joyous certainty of a lover, who knew his passion was returned in
measure as full as the most ardent could possibly desire. But the girl
for a moment made no answer. Her lips were slightly parted in a smile
of unutterable contentment, and the light in her eyes was visible under
the stars. Again he kissed the upturned lips, long and tenderly as he
had never done before.

"Yes. This is the spot where we first met," she said at last, with a
glad laugh in her voice. "My hammock was slung there--and look, there
it is still. I remember so well what we were talking about that day.
Grace was predicting that my time would certainly come, and I said I
didn't believe anything of the kind, but I rather hoped it would. And I
had hardly said so when--oh, darling! _you_ came up! And it has all
been so entrancingly sweet ever since. Life has been entirely
different, and I am quite a transformed being."

Thus she ran on--almost rattled on, so airy, so bright and joyous was
her tone. But it was so with a purpose; for all her pulses were
thrilling; her very mind seemed to reel beneath the surpressed strength
of her feeling. She felt giddy. The great stars in the dark vault
overhead seemed to be whirling round. With heart panting, she leaned
heavily upon the arms which encircled her, then tried to speak, to
whisper, but could not.

"Dear, I ought not to have t