But how was it all to end? That was the black drop clouding the sparkling cup--that was the trail of the serpent across that sunny Eden. And yet not, for it may be that this very rift but served only to enhance the intoxicating, thrilling delights of the present--that this idyl of happiness, unlawful alike in the sight of God or man, was a hundredfold sweetened by the sad vein of undercurrent running through it--even the consciousness that it was not to last. For do we not, in the weak contrariety of our mortal natures, value a thing in exact proportion to the precariousness of our tenure! Come good, come ill, never would either of them forget that day: short, golden, idyllic. "Guess how long we have been sitting here!" said Eanswyth at last, with a rapid glance at her watch. "No--don't look," she added hurriedly, "I want you to _guess_." "About half an hour, it seems. But I suppose it must be more than that." "Exactly two hours and ten minutes." "Two hours and ten minutes of our last peaceful day together--gone. Of our first and our last day together." "Why do you say our last, dear?" she murmured, toying with his hair. His head lay on her lap, his blue eyes gazing up into her large grey ones. "Because, as I told you, I have a strong inkling that way--at any rate, for some time to come. It is wholly lamentable, but, I'm afraid, inevitable." She bent her head--her beautiful stately head--drooped her lips to his and kissed them passionately. "Eustace, Eustace, my darling--my very life! Why do I love you like this!" "Because you can't help it, my sweet one!" he answered, returning her kisses with an ardour equalling her own. "Why did I give way so soon? Why did I give way at all? As you say, because I couldn't help it--because--in short, because it was _you_. You drew me out of myself--you forced me to love you, forced me to. Ah-h! and how I love you!" The quiver in her tones would not be entirely suppressed. Even he had hardly suspected the full force of passion latent within this woman, only awaiting the magic touch to blaze forth into bright flame. And his had been the touch which had enkindled it. "You have brought more than a Paradise into my life," he replied, his glance holding hers as he looked up into her radiant eyes. "Tell me, did you never suspect, all these months, that I only _lived_ when in the halo-influence of your presence?" "I knew it." "You knew it?" "Of course I did," she answered with a joyous laugh, taking his face between her hands and kissing it again. "I should have been no woman if I had not. But, I have kept my secret better than you. Yes, my secret. I have been battling against your influence far harder than you have against mine, and you have conquered." He started, and a look of something like dismay came into his face.