"Ronald, who was it that saved my life? Tell me."
"No one knows," he replied, uneasily.
"Yes, Ronald, I know—I have always known," she replied. "Ah, do not blush. I have never breathed it to anyone, but I know that it was you that saved me from death that night."
"I thought you insensible," he exclaimed, unconsciously admitting the truth of her words.
"Ah, Ronald!" she cried, with sudden uncontrollable pain and passion. "I was almost dead, but I knew whose arms held me, and whose lips kissed me. It seems to me if I were dead and you touched me, even, I should surely know it."
"Ah, Lina, my darling," he cried, "there are no barriers between us now. All are broken. You will be my own at last!"
She looked at her lover with dark, despairing eyes and a death-white face.
"You forget—Violet," she said, in a desolate whisper.
She saw a dark shadow come over the handsome, love-lighted face.