“Viola, don’t shrink away from me!” he cried, ardently. “I love you, darling—have loved you hopelessly for months, but just now as I was coming back to consciousness, I thought I was in Heaven, for I heard low, whispered words from your dear lips—a prayer for my life, a confession that I was dear to you. Oh, Viola, is it indeed true? Am I so blest as to hold a place in your heart? Will you be kind to me? Will you be my wife?”
“I love you, Philip!” sobbed the agitated girl, hiding her face on his breast, and trembling at the ardent kiss he pressed on her quivering, crimson lips.
CHAPTER XIV.
SEVERAL SECRETS.
“Like one who trusts to summer skies
And puts his little bark to sea,
Is he who, lured by smiling eyes,
Consigns his simple heart to thee.”
“I will be your wife, dear Philip, but no one must know of our engagement just yet. You must keep it a secret until I give you leave to tell.”
Viola whispered those words against her lover’s cheek before they returned to the drawing-room, and they gave him a keen pang of disappointment.