I thought, ’Oh, if only this man, instead of urging me to love another and win my peace, if only he were not afraid to trust me, if only he were willing that I should love him!’ And this afternoon when I set out with you, do you know what was the real thing that lay at the bottom of my heart and made me so happy?  I said to myself, ’It may take months, and it may take years, but there is a crown in life that I may win—­that I may win forever!  And this man shall tell me my duty, and night and day I shall watch and pray to do it, and do more; and he will not know why I do it, but it shall be for nothing but the love of him; and some day the worship that is in his heart shall come to me, tho it find me upon my death-bed.’  And now you take me and tell me that I have only to love you; and you frighten me, and I cannot believe that it is true!  But oh, you are pilot and master, and you know, and I will believe you—­only tell me this wonderful thing again that I may be sure—­that in spite of all my weakness and my helplessness and my failures, you love me—­and you trust me—­and you ask for me.  If that is really the truth, David,—­tell me if that is really the truth!”

David whispered to her, “Yes, yes; that is the truth;” and the girl went on swiftly, half sobbing with her emotion: 

“If you tell me that, what more do I need to know?  You are my life and my soul, and you call me.  For the glory of your wonderful love I will leave all the rest of the world behind me, and you may take me where you will and when you will, and do with me what you please.  And oh, you who frightened me so about my wrongness and told me how hard it was to be right—­do you know how easy it is for me to say those words?  And do you know how happy I am—­because I love you and you are mine?  David—­my David—­my heart has been so full,—­so wild and thirsty,—­that now when you tell me that you want all my love, it is a word of glory to me, it tells me to be happy as never in my life have I been happy before!”

And David bent towards her and kissed her upon her beautiful lips and upon her forehead; and he pressed the trembling form closer upon him, so that the heaving of her bosom answered to his own.  “Listen, my love, my precious heart,” he whispered, “I will tell you about the vision of my life, now when you and I are thus heart to heart.  Helen, my soul cries out that this union must be perfect, in mind and soul and body a blending of all ourselves; so that we may live in each other’s hearts, and seek each other’s perfection; so that we may have nothing one from the other, but be one and the same soul in the glory of our love.  That is such a sacred thought, my life, my darling; it makes all my being a song!  And as I clasp you to me thus, and kiss you, I feel that I have never been so near to God.  I have worshiped all my days in the great religion of love, and now as the glory of it burns in my heart I feel lifted above even us, and see that it is because of Him that we love each other so; because He is one, our souls may be one, actually and really one, so that each loses himself and lives the other’s life.  I know that I love you so that I can fling my whole self away, and give up every thought in life but you.  As I tell you that, my heart is bursting; oh! drink in this passion of mine, and tell me once more that you love me!”