"There is no need to say much," he answered. "I come only to tell you that, as man may, I am with you always." "How quietly you came! I did not hear a sound!" "I have been two hours here in the shrubbery." "And I not once to suspect it! You might have given me some hint! A very small one would have been enough! Why did you not let me know?" "It was not your hour; it is twelve but now; the moon comes to say so. I came for the luxury of expectation, and the delight of knowing you better attended than you thought: you knew me with you in spirit; I was with you in the body too!" "My chief!" she said softly. "I shall always find you nearer and better than I was able to think! I know I do not know how good you are." "I am good toward you, Mercy! I love you!" A long silence, save of shining eyes, followed. "We are waiting for God!" said Alister at length. "Waiting is loving," answered Mercy. She leaned out, looking down to her heaven. The moon had been climbing the sky, veiled in a little cloud. The cloud vanished, and her light fell on the chief. "Have you been to a ball?" said Mercy. "No, Mercy. I doubt if there will be any dancing more in Strathruadh!" "Then why are you in court dress?" "When should a Celt, who of all the world loves radiance and colour, put on his gay attire? For the multitude, or for the one?" "Thank you. Is it a compliment?--But after your love, everything fine seems only natural!" "In love there are no compliments; truth only walks the sacred path between the two doors. I will love you as my father loved my mother, and loves her still." "I do like to see you shining! It was kind of you to dress for the moon and me!" "Whoever loves the truth must love shining things! God is the father of lights, even of the lights hid in the dark earth--sapphires and rubies, and all the families of splendour." "I shall always see you like that!" "There is one thing I want to say to you, Mercy:--you will not think me indifferent however long I may be in proposing a definite plan for our future! We must wait upon God!" "I shall think nothing you would not have me think. A little while ago I might have dreamed anything, for I was fast asleep. I was dead till you waked me. If I were what girls call IN LOVE, I should be impatient to be with you; but I love you much more than that, and do not need to be always with you. You have made me able to think, and I can think about you! I was but a child, and you made a woman of me!" "God and Ian did," said Alister. "Yes, but through you, and I want to be worthy of you. A woman to whom a man's love was so little comfort that she pined away and died because she could not be married to him, would not be a wife worthy of my chief!" "Then you will always trust me?" "I will. When one really knows another, then all is safe!" "How many people do you know?" asked the chief. She thought a moment, and with a little laugh, replied, "You."