ceeded in rousing his own
sympathy; he believed in his own grief. He had so feelingly played
the part of a repentant sinner, an ardent lover, that for a moment
probability and reality had become blended in one, and he felt himself
thoroughly possessed by crushing repentance.

But Elise believed in him. His voice sounded like music in her ear,
and every fibre of her heart thrilled and quivered. The past with its
griefs and sorrows was gone forever, he was once more there, with no
stranger to come between them, and she only felt that she loved him
without bounds.

He embraced her knees, looking pleadingly up in her face. "Elise,
forgive me," cried he; "say but one word, 'Pardon,' and I will go away
in silence, and never again dare to approach you."

Elise had no longer power to withstand him. She opened her arms, and
threw them with passionate tenderness around his neck. "Feodor, love
does not forgive, it loves," she cried with unspeakable rapture, and
tears of delight burst from her eyes.

Feodor uttered a cry of joy, and sprang up to draw her to his breast,
to cover her face with kisses, to whisper words of delight, of
tenderness, of passionate love, in her listening ear. "Oh! now all is
right again--now you are again mine. These four years are as if they
had not been. It was all a mournful dream--and we are now awake.
Now we know that we love each other, that we belong to each other,
forever. Come, Elise, it is the same hour which then called us to the
altar. Come, the priest waits. For four long years have I hoped for
this hour. Come, my beloved."

He threw his strong arm around her and raised her to his breast
to draw her forth with him. As Elise drew herself gently back, he
continued still more passionately: "I will not let you go, for you are
mine. You have betrothed yourself to me for life or death. Come,
the priest is waiting, and to-day shall you be my wife. This time no
unfriendly hand shall impose itself between us, and Lodoiska no longer
lives."

"But my father lives," said Elise, as earnestly and proudly she freed
herself from Feodor's arms. "Without his consent I do not leave this
threshold. It was for that the Lord punished us. My father's blessing
was not upon our love, and I had sinned grievously against him. Now,
it is expiated, and Fate is appeased. Let us go hand in hand to my
father, and ask his blessing on our love, that love which has remained
undiminished through so many years of grief."