“Martin, what has come to us? Oh, my dear, must I speak out?”
He looked at her, awed, trembling, entranced.
“Mellis, Mellis!”
“Is not my fate yours—and yours mine? What is pain to you is pain to me. If there is a world of shadows before us, I go—where my man goes.”
He uttered a deep cry.
“Can I touch you? Is it possible? Will you not melt into the air? Oh, my God! but I dare hardly look at you.”
“Martin, I am a soul in a body. What am I but a woman? Guard me—hold me!”
His arms went around her, but they were all tremulous with awe. Her face was close to his, a white, yearning face, with parted lips and half-closed eyes.
“Mellis—oh, my heart!”
She lay in his arms and smiled at him as he kissed her.