"Let me do something to show the vastness of my love," he went on. "What shall it be? Bid me do aught, or go anywhere; command me what you will, but say you love me."
"And if I do, what then?"
"What then?" he echoed; "I would live or die for you—for you alone."
"I do love you, then," she replied, with downcast eyes and blushing face.
Manners stood up erect, and glanced straight into the honest eyes of the beautiful girl as she stood on the bridge beside him.
"You do?" he exclaimed; "say it again."
"I do love you." she repeated; "and will be yours for ever if you love me as you say."
"What!" he cried, "you, the fair Dorothy Vernon, the Princess of the
Peak, the fairest jewel in the land, you give yourself to me—John
Manners, a simple esquire? I can scarce believe my ears."
"I will show you. John," she replied; "my life shall prove it. I have loved you dearly ever since that self-same hunt"; and permitting her love-troth to be sealed by a kiss, she buried her fair face in his bosom and quietly wept in the excess of her joy.