"'When dawn awakes the eastern skies,
And wooing zephyrs kiss the sea,
In vain I sigh for those dark eyes
That should have ope'd in love to me.
But they have looked on me their last,
Time's darkling wave they cheer no more,
Which now in sadness rushes past
To break upon an unknown shore.'"
"Lina, hush," he said, impulsively, when she had sung that first verse. "That is too sad a song. Choose something gayer and more suited to our bridal eve."
"I do not know any gay songs, Ronald," she replied, with some of the sadness of the song yet lingering on her face.
"That is strange," he said. "Did you learn nothing bright and lively at school, Lina?"
"No, I do not believe I did," she answered, musingly. "It seems to me that I always chose songs with a touch of sadness in them. Somehow I liked them best."
But after a minute's thought she sang lightly:
"'Here, take my heart—'twill be safe in thy keeping
While I go wand'ring o'er land and o'er sea:
Smiling or sorrowing, waking or weeping,
What need I care, so my heart is with thee?
"'If, in the race we are destined to run, love,
They who have light hearts the happiest be,
Then happier still must be they who have none, love,
And that will be my case when mine is with thee.'"
"Do you like that one any better, Ronald?" she said, with a smile, when she had finished.
"It is a pretty song," he said, "but, do you know, Lina, you keep selecting songs that hint of separation and sorrow; I do not like to hear you. Darling, do you begin to realize that after to-morrow we shall be separated no more 'until death us do part?'"