Then another thought came to vex him.
To-morrow they would be parted. She was going out of his life to unknown friends.
And she had shown no disposition to continue her acquaintance with him beyond to-morrow.
Could he bear to lose her thus?
Life would be unutterably dreary without this beautiful girl who had come into his life so strangely, and was about to fade from it so soon.
His heart leaped with great, suffocating throbs. He must speak, must know his fate!
He leaned closer to her till their heads almost touched, the brown, curly one, and the wavy, golden-tressed one.
“Jessie,” he faltered.
She started violently, and turned her face inquiringly toward him, as he continued:
“Ever since that first night I saw you with your pure face upturned to the sky, the words of your song have echoed in my heart. Will you forgive me for daring to say them over to you? ‘Love, I will love you ever!’”