Motif of story.
4. “Thine!” returned the other, shuddering. “Well hast thou spoken! The dead is thine!”
5. The proud girl started, and stared into her face with a ghastly look. But a wild and mournful expression passed across the features of the gentle one; and weak and helpless, she sank down on the bed, her head pillowed beside that of the corpse, and her hair mingling with his dark locks. A creature of hope and joy, the first draught of sorrow had bewildered her.
6. “Edith!” cried her rival.
Note “of the heart.”
7. Edith groaned, as with a sudden compassion of the heart; and removing her cheek from the dead youth’s pillow, she stood upright, fearfully encountering the eyes of the lofty girl.
8. “Wilt thou betray me?” said the latter calmly.
Full statement of the motif, ending with [¶12]. Foundation of Main Crisis.
9. “Till the dead bid me speak, I will be silent,” answered Edith. “Leave us alone together! Go, and live many years, and then return, and tell me of thy life. He, too, will be here! Then, if thou tellest of sufferings more than death, we will both forgive thee.”
10. “And what shall be the token?” asked the proud girl, as if her heart acknowledged a meaning in these wild words.