"And could you let her? Could you accept that sacrifice—from one like her?"
"No, no. I didn't mean that, of course. But if only I could be sure—could feel beyond all doubt that she would; that she was ready to give up everything for my sake…."
"And you count that the final test of love? Shame on you!"
The colour faded from the evening sky; the stars were lit … the errant fancies died away.
* * * * *
In the brilliant sunlight they returned—the same strange dreams welling up on every side, like the waters of spring. Behind and before him, everywhere, insistently, an irresistible song.
"I must know—I must sound the uttermost depths of her love!"
"Can you not see how cruel it would be—cruel to her beyond all others?"
"But only to know! To ask as if only in jest…."
"In jest? And you would jest with such a thing as this!"