“Because human life is so short; because we must part at last; because yon moon shines on when the nightingale sings to it no more! A little while, and thine eyes will grow dim, and thy beauty haggard, and these locks that I toy with now will be grey and loveless.”
“And thou, cruel one!” said Viola, touchingly, “I shall never see the signs of age in thee! But shall we not grow old together, and our eyes be accustomed to a change which the heart shall not share!”
Zanoni sighed. He turned away, and seemed to commune with himself.
Glyndon’s attention grew yet more earnest.
“But were it so,” muttered Zanoni; and then looking steadfastly at Viola, he said, with a half-smile, “Hast thou no curiosity to learn more of the lover thou once couldst believe the agent of the Evil One?”
“None; all that one wishes to know of the beloved one, I know—THAT THOU LOVEST ME!”
“I have told thee that my life is apart from others. Wouldst thou not seek to share it?”
“I share it now!”
“But were it possible to be thus young and fair forever, till the world blazes round us as one funeral pyre!”
“We shall be so, when we leave the world!”