“They slandered you, dear love. Do you think I believed them?”
“No more, lady, than I believed that you were happy in my banishment.”
In a passion of emotion she clung about his neck, laying her soft cheek to his bronzed one.
“Let all the lies and the slanders go,” she whispered. “They are not worth one thought from us. O, cancel them with these cruel months! We have never left the balcony; we have never been parted. There is no explanation needed from either of us to the other.”
“Not one, Isabel. It was a dream.”
“We have awakened from it to find the truth.”
“Yes, awakened. Cling close, my soul, and whisper. Does the thought of to-morrow still terrify you?”
“How can I help it? O, my love, my love!”
“Will you come with me now, away from all the stress and sorrow, into the wild white places where we can hide and be forgotten?”
“Bonbec—not now; it is impossible.”