There was a long silence before the man continued; at last he said, “Dear Helen, that was what I wished to say to you, and no more than that, because I believed that I was old, and that my heart was dying within me.  But oh, when that letter came from Arthur, it was as if I heard the voice of my soul crying out to me that my life had just begun, that I had still to love.  As I came out here into the forest with you to-day, my soul was full of a wondrous thought, a thought that brought more awe and rapture than words have power to tell; it was that this precious maiden was not made to be happy alone, but that some day she and all her being would go out to someone, to someone who could win her heart, who could love her and worship her as she deserved.  And my soul cried out to me that I could worship you; the thought wakened in me a wilder music than ever I had heard in my life before.  Here as I kneel before you and hold your hands in mine, dear Helen, all my being cries out to you to come to me; for in your sorrow your heart has been laid bare to my sight, and I have seen only sweetness and truth.  To keep it, and serve it, and feed it upon thoughts of beauty, would be all that I could care for in life; and the thought of winning you for mine, so that all your life I might cherish you, is to me a joy which brings tears into my eyes.  Oh, dearest girl, I must live before you with that prayer, and tell me what you will, I must still pray it.  Nor do I care how long you ask me to wait; my life has now but one desire, to love you in such a way as best may please you, to love you as much as you will let me.  Helen, I have told all myself to you, and here as we gaze into each other’s eyes our souls are bare to each other.  As I say those words they bring to me a thought that sweeps away all my being,—­that perhaps the great sorrow you have known has chastened your heart so that you too wish to forget yourself, and worship at the shrine of love; I see you trembling, and I think that perhaps it may be that, and that it needs only a word of mine to bring your soul to me!  What that thought is I cannot tell you; but oh, it has been the dream of my life, it has been the thing for which I have lived, and for which I was dying.  If I could win you for mine, Helen, for mine—­and take you away with me, away from all else but love!  The thought of it chokes me, and fills me with mighty anguish of yearning; and my soul burns for you, and I stretch out my arms to you; and I cry out to you that the happiness of my life is in your hands—­that I love you—­oh, that I love you!”

As the man had been speaking he had sunk down before Helen, still clasping her hands in his own.  A great trembling had seized upon the girl and her bosom was rising and falling swiftly; but she mastered herself with a desperate effort and looked up, staring at him.  “You tell me that you love me,” she gasped, “you tell me that I am perfect!  And yet you know what I have done—­you have seen all my wrongness!”