The lieutenant remained standing before her, and looked at her long and affectionately. Then he raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss upon it. Blushing deeply, she tried to draw her hand away; he held it with gentle force. "I am so very glad to find you alone," he said; "I have wanted so long to ask you something I am not quite sure about." She raised her eyes to his with surprise and enquiry, she wished to speak, but she found no words. "Helena," he said, in a low voice, "when I was wounded and ill in Langensalza, without strength enough to think clearly, dizzy with fever, a sweet image was always before me,--I saw a consoling angel looking at me so kindly, so lovingly,--I held her helping hand in mine, I pressed it to my lips, and from the depths of my heart I said, 'dear Helena.'" She withdrew her hand quickly, and seated herself on the chair near the window; pale and trembling, her eyes sought the ground. He went up to her and continued in urgent terms: "Tell me,--for sometimes a gloomy veil comes over my memory,--tell me, this image that never leaves my heart, that follows me everywhere--was it real?" She gave no answer, but sat still and motionless. "Helena," he said imploringly, "I saw eyes that told me such good and loving things in a mute language,--those eyes are near me night and day. Helena, look at me once more, that I may see whether the image in my heart was the dream of fever, or the truth." He sank on his knees before her, and seized her hand as it hung beside her, looking up at her with an earnest loving gaze. Then she slowly raised her eyes, and in her eyes lay her answer; those eyes again spoke the mute language that found an echo in his heart. Again he pressed her hand to his lips, and again she permitted it with a loving smile, and in a soft voice, happy and triumphant, he whispered, "Dear, dear Helena!" They sat for a long time in silence; he was never weary of gazing on the beloved features which in the days of his deadly peril were graven so deeply in his soul. Then he sprang up, bent over her and held her in his arms. The door opened, the pastor and candidate entered. The old gentleman looked much surprised at this unexpected scene, an evil flash of hatred darted from the candidate's sharp eyes, but he quickly fixed them on the ground and an oily smile played around his mouth. Helena bent down her head in charming confusion. The lieutenant hastened to the pastor and seized his hand energetically. "Dear sir," he said, in a decided voice, "my dear playmate, Helena, watched over my life, and saved it when it hung on the feeblest thread,--I have implored her to watch over it henceforth,--for ever,--and--she will." He looked at the young girl with eyes full of happiness and continued, "Will you unite our hands before the altar of our dear old church, where we made our vows at our confirmation?" And he looked the old clergyman honestly in the face.