Bernice seemed never to tire of going into the depths of the subterranean world. "If I were a mermaid, Claire," she would say, "and lived in yon crystal cavern, and some fair day I should wander forth among the palmettos and mosses of the springs, and, sitting on yonder ledge of rocks, should 'comb my golden hair with a shell,' and your boat should come drifting by, and you were to see me in the water beneath, would you love me well enough to plunge, plunge to the depths beneath to woo me?" Then would Claire stop her merry chatter with his kisses, and pledge to her his eternal love as they drifted over the transparent mirror of water, pausing now and then to study the rocks and shells, the mosses, palmettos, the fish, which were as visible eighty feet below the transparent water as were the trees and woodland about them. There is nothing fairer than Ocala's "Lover's Lane," and yet no spot held for these young people the attraction of Silver Springs, their constant trysting place. But there came a fatal day, destined to separate them. A day wherein Claire Douglass declared to his father his love for beautiful, penniless Bernice Mayo, and his determination to make her his wife. Stormily, his father vowed it should never be, and secretly planned a separation. When Claire Douglass had been speedily dispatched abroad on important business for his father, then it was that Bernice learned the truth, and her proud, delicate nature lay crushed and bleeding beneath the cruel blow and still more cruel separation. Vainly she strove to rally; all life seemed but an empty blank to her. A year dragged wearily by, and the scenes frequented by merry Bernice Mayo knew her no more. Paler and thinner she daily grew. Fragile, she was, as the white blossoms of her well-loved springs. The little chain of gold that Claire had locked on her arm would have slipped across the wasted, transparent hand, but for the ribbon that held its links. One day (her last upon earth) the girl, by dint of desperate energy, crept to Silver Springs. Even Aunt Silly was unprepared for the white, emaciated little creature who tottered into her cabin and fell fainting in her arms. Consciousness soon returned, but it was apparent even to the old black woman that death had set its gray, unmistakable seal upon the young face. "Aunt Silly," gasped the girl, "I have come to you to die, and you must obey my last request; the grave divulges no secrets. Ere tonight's sun sets I shall be in heaven. This separation from the man I love has been my death, but in that death we shall be united. I have asked God, and He has heard me. But you, Aunt Silly, you must obey my request. You love me; you will do as I ask. Tonight when the moon comes out, row my body to Boiling Springs, and bury me there. You know the spot--make no mistake. Do this, and God will attend to the rest."