He put his arm around her, and placed her head against his shoulder.
Ah, how his generous heart ached, as he noted the hungry delight with which her splendid eyes lingered on his features, and the convulsive tenacity with which she clung to him, trembling with excess of joy that brought back carmine to her wasted lips and carnation bloom to her blanched cheeks.
He heard her whispering, and knew it was a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing of his presence.
But very soon a change came over her sparkling, happy face, like an inky cloud across a noon sky, and he felt a shiver stealing through her form.
“Let me go! You said once, that when I came to Europe to enter on my professional career, you wished never to touch my hands again,—you would consider them polluted.”
“Dear Salome, I recant all those harsh, unjust words, which were uttered when I was not fully aware of the latent strength of your character. Since then, I have learned much from Professor V——, and from Gerard Granville, that assures me my noble friend is all I could desire her,—that she has grandly conquered her faults, and is worthy of the admiration, the perfect confidence, the earnest affection, which her adopted brother offers her. Your pure, true heart makes pure hands, and as such I reverently salute them.”
He took her hands, raised and kissed them respectfully, tenderly.
She hid her burning face on his bosom, and there was a short pause.
“Salome, sit down and let me talk to you of home,—your home. Have you no questions to ask about your pet sister and brother?”