He spoke no word, for his lips seemed to be smitten with silence, but his heart said, “I love you, I love you,” and her heart heard it, for she whispered back:—
“Bethink you who and what I am.”
“It matters not, for we are one,” he replied.
“Bethink you,” she said again, “that soon I may be dead and lost to you.”
“It cannot be, for we are one,” he replied. “One we have been, one we are to-day, and one we shall be through all the length of life and death.”
“Prince,” she said again, “once more and for the last time I say: Bethink you well, for it comes upon me that your words are true, and that if I take that which to-night you offer, it will be for ever and for aye.”
“For ever and aye, let it be,” Aziel said, leaning towards her.
“For ever and for aye, let it be,” she repeated, holding up her lips to his.
And thus in the silent moonlit garden they plighted their strange troth.