"William!"
He was at her side in an instant. A warm blush glowing over her bosom, cheek and brow, her eyes were full of tears, as she raised them to his face, eloquent with all a maiden may not speak.
"Angel! I love! I adore thee!" exclaimed the youth, sinking at her feet.
"Love me, William, only love me, and let us both adore the Being who hath given us to each other."
It was a cold night on the shores of the ice-bound Rappahannock. A storm of wind and snow that had been fiercely raging all day long, at length subsided. At a low cabin, which served the threefold purposes of post-office, ferry-house and tavern, an old gray-haired man was nodding over a smoldering fire. His slumbers were disturbed by the blast of a stage horn and wheels of the coach, which soon stopped before the door.
Two travelers alighted and entered the cabin. The old ferryman arose to receive them.
"Any chance of crossing to-night, Uncle Ben?" inquired the younger traveler.
"He-he! hardly, Mr. William; the river has been closed for a week," chuckling at the thought that he should be saved the trouble of taking the coach across.
"Oh, of course, I did not expect to go on the boat; I was thinking of crossing on the ice."