ith me for ever in these woods, and I will give you the desire of
your life."

"And what shall I give you?" said Hobb.

"Whatever is nearest to yourself," she whispered, "the dearest treasure
of your soul." And she looked at him with eyes full of passions which
he could not fathom, but among them he saw terror. And with great
tenderness he drew her once more to his heart, putting his strong and
steady arms around her like a shield, and he said:

"Love whose name I do not know, what is nearer to myself than you, what
dearer treasure has my soul than you? If I am to give you this, it is
yourself I must give you; and I will restore to you whatever it is that
you have lost through the agony of your soul. Be at peace, my love
whose name I do not know." And holding her closely to him he bent his
head and kissed her lips; and a great shudder passed through her, and
then she lay still in his arms, with her strange eyes half-closed, and
slow tears welling between the lids and hanging on her cheeks like the
rain on the rose. And she let him quiet her with his big hands that
were so used to care for flowers. Presently she lifted his right hand
to her mouth, and kissed it before he could prevent her. Next she drew
herself a little away from him, hanging back in his arms and gazing
into his face as though her soul were all a question and his was the
answer that she could not wholly read. And last she broke away from him
with a strange laugh that ended on a sob.

Hobb said, "Will you not tell me what makes you unhappy?"

"I have no unhappiness," she answered, and quenched her sob with a
smile as strange as her laugh. "My foolish lover, are you amazed that
when her hour comes a woman knows not whether she is happy or unhappy?
Oh, when joy is so great that it has come full circle with pain, what
wonder that laughter and weeping are one?"

And Hobb believed her, for ever since he had opened his eyes upon her,
he had felt in his own heart more joy than he could bear; and he knew
that for this there is no remedy except to find a second heart to help
in the bearing. And he knew it was the same with her. But now he saw
that she was free for awhile from the excess of joy; and indeed these
respites must happen even to lovers for their own sakes, lest they sink
beneath the heavenly burden of their hearts. And her smile was like the
diver's rise from his enchanted deeps to take again the common breath
of man; and Hobb also smiled and said