“What, Ordener!” quickly exclaimed Ethel, “will you leave us no more?”
These words recalled the young man to all that he had forgotten.
“My Ethel, I must leave you this very night. I will see you again to-morrow, and to-morrow I must leave you again, to remain until I may return never more to leave you.”
“Alas!” mournfully broke in the girl, “must you leave me again?”
“I repeat, my beloved Ethel, that I will come back soon to wrest you from this prison or bury myself in it with you.”
“A prisoner with him!” she said softly. “Ah! do not deceive me. Must I only hope for such happiness?”
“What oath do you require? What would you have me do?” cried Ordener; “tell me, Ethel, are you not my wife?” And in a transport of affection he pressed her to his heart.
“I am yours,” she whispered.
The two pure and noble hearts throbbed rapturously together, and were but purer and nobler for the embrace.
At this moment a violent burst of laughter was heard close by. A man wrapped in a cloak opened a dark lantern which he had concealed, and the light suddenly revealed Ethel’s alarmed, confused face and Ordener’s proud but astonished features.