She clasped her hands; she laid her shoulder and face against the rock; she spoke bitterly:
“Oh, do not try me so. Do you suppose there is nothing hard for me also? Yes, I know; I know!”
He bent toward her, but a horrible doubt seized him. He clasped his hands behind his head; he swung from side to side.
“For another? Not for me?” he demanded, hoarsely.
She stood unsteadily; she lifted her joined hands; her upturned face was aflame, but she could not speak. Then her self-repression broke down. She sank upon the rock and covered her face, and wept uncontrollably. He threw himself beside her.
“Oh, is it true?” he besought her. “Can it be true?”
“Yes!—yes!” she cried, sobbing vehemently. “I tried to keep it down; I would not hear it. I tried to do right. But I can’t help it now.”
He turned his face up to the sky and groaned. “O God!” It was as if heaven came within his reach, and resistless hands stretched out and held him back. But it was too much. Fierce joy rushed upon him and swept away everything else. He stretched out his arms; he bowed over her; he caught her and held her fast. The sun leaped up in the sky. The waves and the winds sang together. There was a new heaven and a new earth! “O Stella!” was all he said.
She lay still; she had no strength. But soon she found faint voice: