He touched the white hand with his lips.
“I would rather not,” he said, “because you were concerned in it, and it seemed as if you were trying to reveal something or show me something that I dreaded to see. It was in fighting against seeing it that I awoke.”
She started from her reclining position and fixed her eyes on his face. “Julian,” she cried, in a sudden breathless way, “was it—was it?—No.” She broke off and wrung her hands helplessly. “It has escaped me again. I cannot remember. Oh, that I could! It tortures me so. Julian—” and she looked at him appealingly. “You must help me—you must bring it back. I will not wed you till that mystery is solved. Something warns me against it.”
“My dearest,” he said soothingly, “do not excite yourself in this fashion. It can make no difference to me that there should be mystery or tragedy in your past life. Have I not always loved you? Have we not chosen the same path in life, only now we shall tread it side by side, not one far in advance of the other? The infinite delight of that companionship shall not be marred by any memories of the past. If I am content to let it rest, surely you may be.”
She drew herself away. Her deep strange eyes looked coldly and yet mournfully back to his yearning gaze.
“You were never a coward, Julian,” she said. “What is it you fear now?”
He threw himself on his knees by her side and buried his face in the soft white furs. She saw that he was trembling greatly. “I cannot tell,” he said hoarsely. “Would to God that I could! But if you should change, if you should repent—Oh! to lose your love now would kill me!”
She laid her hand on his bowed head. “Rest assured you shall not lose that,” she said in her low thrilling voice. “No, Julian, that is not the danger—it threatens me, not you. There will be no change on my part, not so far as my love is concerned. Will that assurance satisfy you?”
“You need not ask that, beloved? But why disturb our peace? If I am content—”
“There must be no secret between your soul and mine,” she said solemnly. “For what, think you, is your power granted, but that I may answer to it, that I may lead you on the road—and that you, for me, may throw open the portals?”