‘That,’ continued she, pointing to the basket, ‘contains my breakfast, and luncheon or dinner, and I invite you to be my guest.’
‘And I accept with rapture. Oh!’ cried he passionately, ‘what whispered to my heart this morning that this would be the happiest day of my life!’
‘If so, Fate has scarcely been generous to you.’ And her lip curled half superciliously as she spoke.
‘I’d not say that. I have lived amidst great hopes, many of them dashed, it is true, by disappointment; but who that has been cheered by glorious daydreams has not tasted moments at least of exquisite bliss?’
‘I don’t know that I have much sympathy with political ambitions,’ said she pettishly.
‘Have you tasted—have you tried them? Do you know what it is to feel the heart of a nation throb and beat?—to know that all that love can do to purify and elevate, can be exercised for the countless thousands of one’s own race and lineage, and to think that long after men have forgotten your name, some heritage of freedom will survive to say that there once lived one who loved his country.’
‘This is very pretty enthusiasm.’
‘Oh, how is it that you, who can stimulate one’s heart to such confessions, know nothing of the sentiment?’
‘I have my ambitions,’ said she coldly, almost sternly.
‘Let me hear some of them.’