“Of course I was,” I answered on the spur of the moment, and I now think wisely. “Shocked is hardly the word. I was horrified beyond anything that words can convey that you—you should have to so endure! I did not like to return, for I feared lest my doing so might set some barrier between us. But in due time I did return on another day.”
“Well?” Her voice was like sweet music.
“I had another shock that time, worse than before, for you were not there. Then indeed it was that I knew to myself how dear you were—how dear you are to me. Whilst I live, you—living or dead—shall always be in my heart.” She breathed hard. The elation in her eyes made them outshine the moonlight, but she said no word. I went on:
“My dear, I had come into the crypt full of courage and hope, though I knew what dreadful sight should sear my eyes once again. But we little know what may be in store for us, no matter what we expect. I went out with a heart like water from that dreadful desolation.”
“Oh, how you love me, dear!” Cheered by her words, and even more by her tone, I went on with renewed courage. There was no halting, no faltering in my intention now:
“You and I, my dear, were ordained for each other. I cannot help it that you had already suffered before I knew you. It may be that there may be for you still suffering that I may not prevent, endurance that I may not shorten; but what a man can do is yours. Not Hell itself will stop me, if it be possible that I may win through its torments with you in my arms!”
“Will nothing stop you, then?” Her question was breathed as softly as the strain of an Æolian harp.
“Nothing!” I said, and I heard my own teeth snap together. There was something speaking within me stronger than I had ever known myself to be. Again came a query, trembling, quavering, quivering, as though the issue was of more than life or death:
“Not this?” She held up a corner of the shroud, and as she saw my face and realized the answer before I spoke, went on: “With all it implies?”
“Not if it were wrought of the cerecloths of the damned!” There was a long pause. Her voice was more resolute when she spoke again. It rang. Moreover, there was in it a joyous note, as of one who feels new hope: