“Tell me why you avert your face, and why your eyes are filled with tears?”
Charley could say no more.
His heart was full.
“Forgive me, Clara, if I have offended you,” were the only words he uttered.
And as he stood beside her chair, and saw her weeping, without making any reply, he felt like a child, and could have almost wept himself.
For some time the lovers maintained silence, broken only by a suppressed sob from Clara.
At last Charley took her hand, and with much gallantry, kissing it, said,
“Were I a prince I could not rejoice in anything more precious than your friendship, Clara.
“If I had a throne I would ask you to share it.
“I would ask you to smile upon me, and bestow your hand upon me, for Heaven only knows how much I love you, Clara, and Heaven only is the witness of its sincerity.