d. Life seemed to bloom on the quiet face that lay
there at rest. His sleep was sound; a light, even breath was drawn in
between red lips; he was smiling--he had passed no doubt through the
gate of dreams into a noble life. Was he a centenarian now? Did his
grandchildren come to wish him length of days? Or, on a rustic bench set
in the sun and under the trees, was he scanning, like the prophet on the
mountain heights, a promised land, a far-off time of blessing.

"Here you are!"

The words, uttered in silver tones, dispelled the shadowy faces of his
dreams. He saw Pauline, in the lamplight, sitting upon the bed; Pauline
grown fairer yet through sorrow and separation. Raphael remained
bewildered by the sight of her face, white as the petals of some water
flower, and the shadow of her long, dark hair about it seemed to make it
whiter still. Her tears had left a gleaming trace upon her cheeks, and
hung there yet, ready to fall at the least movement. She looked like an
angel fallen from the skies, or a spirit that a breath might waft away,
as she sat there all in white, with her head bowed, scarcely creasing
the quilt beneath her weight.

"Ah, I have forgotten everything!" she cried, as Raphael opened his
eyes. "I have no voice left except to tell you, 'I am yours.' There is
nothing in my heart but love. Angel of my life, you have never been so
beautiful before! Your eyes are blazing---- But come, I can guess it
all. You have been in search of health without me; you were afraid of
me---- well----"

"Go! go! leave me," Raphael muttered at last. "Why do you not go? If you
stay, I shall die. Do you want to see me die?"

"Die?" she echoed. "Can you die without me? Die? But you are young; and
I love you! Die?" she asked, in a deep, hollow voice. She seized his
hands with a frenzied movement. "Cold!" she wailed. "Is it all an
illusion?"

Raphael drew the little bit of skin from under his pillow; it was as
tiny and as fragile as a periwinkle petal. He showed it to her.

"Pauline!" he said, "fair image of my fair life, let us say good-bye?"

"Good-bye?" she echoed, looking surprised.

"Yes. This is a talisman that grants me all my wishes, and that
represents my span of life. See here, this is all that remains of it. If
you look at me any longer, I shall die----"

The young girl thought that Valentin had grown lightheaded; she took the
talisman and went to fetch the lamp. By its tremulous light which she
shed over Raphae