Penloe said: "Yes, Stella, I did one kind of work, and you did another; my work was easy compared to yours. I instructed you, but it was you who put the instruction in practice, and that counts."
"Penloe," said Stella, taking his hand in hers, "I realize that fully, for no one but you could have taught me as you did. No one but you could have given me the light and knowledge I so much needed, no one but you could help me open the door which led me into the spiritual world, and when I entered that world, you were there as my spiritual companion.
"Penloe, you have been my very dear social companion, you have been my very dear intellectual companion, and you have been my very dear spiritual companion. Your companionship has been that of the truest friendship, for your every act and thought has been to raise me up to a higher plane, and I would not be true to my highest and best nature if I did not tell you that I love you as I can love no other man. You possessed my heart long before to-night. Do you love Stella, Penloe, and do you want her to be your life companion, to help you in your noble work, to love you, and to live the Divine life with you?"
Penloe said: "Stella, dear, what I have done for you I would do for any one; but darling, I love you intensely. Yes, dear one, your love to me is bliss, and there is no one whose companionship I love and enjoy more than yours, dear Stella, for I see so much of the Divine manifested in you." And here Penloe took the dear girl to him, and they were both lost in bliss.
I looked at the moon just then in its silvery brightness, and as it looked down on that hallowed scene it sent forth such a glow of light as illuminated the whole heavens and earth. I looked at the planets witnessing that blissful scene. They were more brilliant than ever, and vied with each other in sending forth their bright lights. I looked at the whole canopy of the heavens and, just as the two embraced, an unusual number of stars of the first magnitude appeared and the whole sky was decked with millions of fiery worlds. And why should the heavens not be brilliant on an occasion when the love in two divine ones is plighted?
Their little whisperings at intervals during the silence, which they are enjoying, are too sacred to record here; and while they are in that exceedingly blissful state of mind the thought came to me to note the nature of kisses. There is the cold kiss, which upon receiving one wishes he had not been kissed. Then there is the average common kiss. Then there is the kiss of friendship. Then there is the ordinary love kiss. Then there is the warm, passionate kiss. But superior to them all is the pure, spiritual kiss, so intensely sweet, but so very, very rare. To give such a kiss, and even to enjoy receiving it, one must have a very high quality of organism. The cells of the brain, the blood which flows through the arteries and veins, the tissues of the whole body must have been formed and built up by that all powerful agent, thought. And that thought must be of the highest order; it must have emptied itself of all but love, that love which takes in all, and from that thought and life comes the manifestation of harmony, purity, sweetness, truth and love. Blessed, thrice blessed indeed, is such a person.
When two persons of that type of character come together in love, giving each other through kisses, the expression of their affection, that kissing is bliss indeed.
After the silence and whisperings of deep love thoughts were over, Stella with her face looking so beautiful, being flushed from the realization of her love, said: "Penloe, dear, I knew that you were different from most men in not being dependent on the love of a woman for your happiness; for you had within you a deep well of living water from whence came all your joy, and you drank deep draughts from it daily. Yes, dear, I knew your thoughts, your hopes, your happiness was centered in that Blessed Infinite One and He was the source of your peace, your joy and your love. Though I loved you so much, the question arose in my mind whether you needed my love and companionship."
Penloe said: "Stella, darling, it is all true, what you say about my living in the Eternal One, and that from Him springs all my strength, my hope and my love; but if that Blessed Infinite One brings another joy to me in the form of dear Stella's love, why should I not accept it gladly? Yes, dear, your interesting self, your love is all a gift to me from the Infinite Spirit. It is an additional joy and pleasure which He has bestowed upon me, and my prayer is that I may always and fully meet your expectations, and my self and my love may give you as much joy as yours gives me."
Stella said: "Penloe, dear, my cup is full to overflowing; how good God is to me."