"My darling Leone," he said, "if I lived a hundred years I could only say over and over again--'I love you.' Those three words say everything. Do you love me?" She looked up at him. Then she raised her dark eyes to his and a little quiver passed over her beautiful mouth. "Yes, I love you," she said. "Whether it be for weal or for woe, for good or ill, I know not; but I love you." There was unutterable pathos, unutterable music in those three words; they seemed to rhyme with the chime of the falling waters. She held out her white hands, he clasped them in his. "Why do you say it so sadly, my darling? Love will bring nothing but happiness for you and for me," he said. She laid her white arms on his neck, and looked earnestly in his face. "There can be no comparison," she said. "Love to you is only a small part of your life, to me it is everything--everything. Do you understand? If you forget me or anything of that kind, I could not bear it. I could not school myself into patience as model women do. I should come and throw myself into the mill-stream." "But, my darling, I shall never forget you--never; you are life of my life. I might live without the air and the sunlight; I might live without sleep or food, but never without you. I must forget my own soul before I forget you." Still the white hands clasped his shoulders and the dark eyes were fixed on his face. "You and your love are more than that to me," she said. "I throw all my life on this one die; I have nothing else--no other hope. Ah, think well, Lance, before you pledge your faith to me; it means so much. I should exact it whole, unbroken and forever." "And I would give it so," he replied. "Think well of it," she said again, with those dark, earnest eyes fixed on his face. "Let there be no mistake, Lance. I am not one of the meek Griselda type; I should not suffer in silence and resignation, let my heart break, and then in silence sink into an early grave. Ah, no, I am no patient Griselda. I should look for revenge and many other things. Think well before you pledge yourself to me. I should never forgive--never forget. There is time now--think before you seal your fate and mine." "I need not think, Leone," he answered, quietly. "I have thought, and the result is that I pledge you my faith forever and ever." The earnest, eager gaze died from her eyes, and the beautiful face was hidden on his breast. "Forever and ever, sweet," he whispered; "do you hear? in all time and for all eternity, I pledge you my love and my faith." The water seemed to laugh as it rippled on, the wind laughed as it bent the tall branches, the nightingale singing in the wood stopped suddenly, and its next burst of song was like ringing laughter; the mountains quivered over the mill-stream, the stars seemed to tremble as they shone.