“I would give thee comfort, Saulus. Behold thou didst call my name! Wast thou dreaming of me?”
“Little Cassia! I had a vision that some fateful Power was bearing thee away, and as we were separated thou didst stretch out thy hands imploringly toward me. What meaneth the vision? Is it that we must part?”
“O Saulus! Knowest thou not that it was but an idle dream?”
“But thou only canst interpret it. Behold, O little Cassia, thy image abideth in my soul. I love thee! Wouldst thou be parted from me? Does another possess thy heart? Heaven grant that my fears have been idle concerning thee!”
Cassia, with her pale face full in the moonlight, and her large eyes bedewed like morning flowers, listened as he poured out his heart. At length her lips moved.
“O Saulus! I love no one else! Throughout all thy absence thou hast been dear to me! Thy image hath been enshrined in my soul! My dear Saulus”—but her emotion was too powerful for further words.
She bent her bright young face upon his shoulder, and the feeling that her love was now free to show itself was [pg 159]like the breaking of a great barrier. Her voice was choked, and her heart beat wildly.
Saulus put his arm gently around her light form, and looking up, said,—
“Heaven bless the day when first I saw thee!”
The orb of night hath looked down upon many such scenes among the children of men.