Eva looked up suddenly; then her eyes fell to the marble floor, where the red petals of an over-ripe rose had dropped and lay glowing like rubies. “Eva, can you imagine—have you ever dreamed how much I love you?” Her hand trembled in his. She caught one of the red rose-leaves, as it was quivering downward, and dropped it again, with a sigh of infinite happiness. Another leaf lodged upon her lip, and for an instant trembled there, scarcely redder or sweeter than the mouth it touched. Ivon stooped down, and with his lips gathered the leaf from hers. She made no resistance; but drew closer to him, and the clasp of her fingers grew warm and tender. “One word, Eva; only one. May I love you?” She lifted her eyes to his. The light of stars seemed quivering in them. “How can you ask me? Have I not permitted it already?” The young man drew her gently to his bosom, and laid his cheek to hers, as doves creep together in a nest. “And you love me?” “A thousand times better than myself,” she answered. “And some day, not long from this, you will be my wife?” CHAPTER XLII. A WOMAN TRANSFIGURED. His wife. Eva had not thought of that. It had been enough that he loved her, and she loved him. Now an idea of the future flashed through her happiness, and she remembered how far they two were apart. His wife! The holy word thrilled her from head to foot with unutterable bliss, mingled with apprehension. “Ah!” she said, “what a strange, sweet word it is. How much it means; how impossible that I should bear it.” “It is the sweetest possibility on earth, my Eva; one that I have had in my heart of hearts since we first met.” “How strange,” murmured the girl. “But you are so fearless. I never dared look so far.” “But now, my girl, now!” Ivon threw his arms around her drooping figure, and kissed her with passionate warmth. A woman had been lying insensible back of a little jungle of broad-leaved tropical plants, out of which a slender tree rose to the glass roof. The coldness of the marble, and some stray drops that reached her from the fountain, brought her back to life, when she heard the low murmur of voices close by, and arose to leave the conservatory. The place where Ivon and Eva stood was sheltered from sight by the plants that concealed this lady; but through the leaves she saw the girl’s face, bathed in blushes, as it escaped from the first kisses of love—and the look of intense happiness that flushed it, stung her to the soul. One man alone was in her thoughts, and his supposed presence there, while she lay stricken lifeless, by the cruel truth he had told her, was maddening. A stir among the plants drew Eva’s attention that way. She saw a pair of white arms flung upward, on which great jewels flashed in the moonlight of the lamps, and shrunk away from Ivon, passing to the other side of the fountain, startled and ashamed.