“I cannot lose you, Bonbec. No, not for all the world.”
“Now,” he said deeply, “the last is said; and we are one and inseparable to eternity.”
“Yes, to eternity!”
“That I could have doubted you! O, my soul, forgive me!”
Presently she stirred, and, the starlight shining on her wet lashes, yielded herself to one last long kiss; then gently put him from her.
“Good-bye, beloved—O, good-bye, good-bye!”
“It is like death to leave you, Isabel.”
“Then do not go. Come back—here, into my room—only till the day breaks. There is something fearful in the night. I feel as if, once we were parted, it will never give you to me again.”
He laughed, whispering away her terrors.
“The dark is my true friend. How but for it could I creep back into hiding?”