"Never!" cried Ralph.
The soft hand was clapped over his mouth again. "Do not swear it!" she said. "Who can tell how you feel by and by? Take what comes. You will like her, I think. Not like this——" Her voice shook again. "I not want it just like this. But it will be good. And if you feel kind to her you will remember that I wished it, and it will not be false to me. Promise me, if you feel good and kind to Kitty you will marry her!"
"It will never be!" he cried.
"Then what harm to promise me?" she said quickly. "It make me a little happy."
"Very well, if I change I will marry her," he said sullenly. "But I will never change!"
"Kitty will be good to you," murmured Nahnya, "and watch you, and take care of you almost as good as me. Kitty—will have babies! I think of that—it is a pain and a gladness, too!"
"Nahnya," he said, "you hurt me!"
She clung to him again. "No!" she breathed in a voice as tender and thrilling as starlight; "my love will not hurt you; it will make you strong! It will be a more wonderful love because we cannot be together. It will be more real than what you see! It will shelter you like a house over your head, and comfort you like a fire in winter! Whenever you close your eyes I will be there, waiting for you! Good-bye, my brave man, my darling love!"
She was gone before he realized she was going.