'Can you be in earnest?' she asked, in a low sweet voice. 'Can you lift me so high—I, that had fallen so low?'
He clasped her to his heart, and sealed the promise of their unclouded future with a passionate kiss.
'At last, at last, I hold you in my arms!' he said, fondly; 'but not for the first time, my angel!'
'What do you mean?'
'Who was it carried you out of the burning house last year?' he asked, smiling at her.
'Cheap Jack.'
'I was Cheap Jack.'
'You!'
'Yes. I lived far from the sight of this dear face, as long as I could bear my life, and then after five years of exile in far lands, where my soul sickened for the sight of you, I came back to England, heard in London that your husband was an idler and a drunkard, and foresaw evil days for my darling. I could be nothing to her; but at least I could watch over her, near at hand, yet unknown. So I took up my abode on the Hanger within a mile or so of her dwelling. Don't pity me, dearest. It was not a hard life after all. I had my books and Nature for my companions, all the joy I could have, not having you.'
'However shall I repay you?'