“Minna, can we love two beings at once?  Would our beloved be indeed our beloved if he did not fill our hearts?  Must he not be the first, the last, the only one?  She who is all love, must she not leave the world for her beloved?  Human ties are but a memory, she has no ties except to him!  Her soul is hers no longer; it is his.  If she keeps within her soul anything that is not his, does she love?  No, she loves not.  To love feebly, is that to love at all?  The voice of her beloved makes her joyful; it flows through her veins in a crimson tide more glowing far than blood; his glance is the light that penetrates her; her being melts into his being.  He is warm to her soul.  He is the light that lightens; near to him there is neither cold nor darkness.  He is never absent, he is always with us; we think in him, to him, by him!  Minna, that is how I love him.”

“Love whom?” said Minna, tortured with sudden jealousy.

“God,” replied Seraphitus, his voice glowing in their souls like fires of liberty from peak to peak upon the mountains,—­“God, who does not betray us!  God, who will never abandon us! who crowns our wishes; who satisfies His creatures with joy—­joy unalloyed and infinite!  God, who never wearies but ever smiles!  God, who pours into the soul fresh treasures day by day; who purifies and leaves no bitterness; who is all harmony, all flame!  God, who has placed Himself within our hearts to blossom there; who hearkens to our prayers; who does not stand aloof when we are His, but gives His presence absolutely!  He who revives us, magnifies us, and multiplies us in Himself; God!  Minna, I love thee because thou mayst be His!  I love thee because if thou come to Him thou wilt be mine.”

“Lead me to Him,” cried Minna, kneeling down; “take me by the hand; I will not leave thee!”

“Lead us, Seraphita!” cried Wilfrid, coming to Minna’s side with an impetuous movement.  “Yes, thou hast given me a thirst for Light, a thirst for the Word.  I am parched with the Love thou hast put into my heart; I desire to keep thy soul in mine; thy will is mine; I will do whatsoever thou biddest me.  Since I cannot obtain thee, I will keep thy will and all the thoughts that thou hast given me.  If I may not unite myself with thee except by the power of my spirit, I will cling to thee in soul as the flame to what it laps.  Speak!”

“Angel!” exclaimed the mysterious being, enfolding them both in one glance, as it were with an azure mantle, “Heaven shall by thine heritage!”

Silence fell among them after these words, which sounded in the souls of the man and of the woman like the first notes of some celestial harmony.