She looked at him in silence with lips just parted. For her life she could not speak; but the sun grew dark, and the river changed its merry tune to mournful dirges.
"So the dream ends," said he. "So comes the awakening. But if life were all a dream!" And his eyes sought hers.
"Yes," she whispered, "if life were all a dream, sir?"
"Then I should dream of two dreamers whose dream was one, and in that dream I should see them ride together at break of day from Strelsau."
"Whither?" she murmured.
"To Paradise," said he. "But the dream ends. If it did not end—" He paused.
"If it did not end?" a breathless longing whisper echoed.
"If it did not end now, it should not end even with death," said he.
"You see them in your dream? You see them riding—"
"Aye, swiftly, side by side, they two alone, through the morning. None is near, none knows."