she was my darling before she was yours and after too if anybody has a right to call her his own it is i you talk like a man in the dark which is what a t air of blue eyes you are did she ever do anything for you risk her name for instance for you c yes she did said emphatically c not entirely did she ever live for you � prove she could not live without you � laugh and weep for you � yes c never did she ever risk her life for you � no my darling did for me then it was in kindness only when did she risk her life for you to save mine on the cliff yonder the poor child was with me looking at the approach of the and i slipped down we both had a narrow escape i wish we had died there ah but wait pleaded with wet eyes she went on that cliff to see me arrive home she had promised it she told me she would months before and would she have gone there if she had not cared for me at all you have an idea that died for you no doubt said knight with a mournful sarcasm too to support itself � never mind if we find that � that she died yours i ll say no more ever and if we find she died yours i ll say no more very well � so it shall be the dark clouds into which the sun had sunk had begun to drop rain in an increasing volume can we wait somewhere here till this shower is over said as you will but it is not worth while we ll hear the particulars and return don t let people know who we are i am not much now they had reached a point at which the road into two � just outside the west village one fork of the passing into the latter place the other stretching on to east having come some a pair of blue eyes of the distance by the they now found that the was only a little in advance of them i fancy it has turned off to east can you see i cannot you must be mistaken knight and entered the village a bar of fiery light lay across the road proceeding from the door of a in which were heard blowing and a hammer ringing the rain had increased and they mechanically turned for shelter towards the warm and scene at their heels came another man without overcoat or umbrella and with a parcel under his arm a wet evening he said to the two friends and passed by them they stood in the outer but the man went in to the fire the smith ceased his blowing and began talking to the man who had entered i have walked all the way from said the latter was obliged to come to night you know he held the parcel which was a flat one towards the to learn if the rain had penetrated it resting it on the he supported it with one hand wiping his face with the handkerchief he held in the other i suppose you know what i ve got here he observed to the smith no i don t said the smith pausing again on his as the rain s not over i ll show you said the bearer he laid the thin and broad which had acute angles in different directions flat upon the and the smith blew up the fire to give him more light first after the a sheet of brown paper was removed this was laid flat then he unfolded a piece of this also he spread flat on the paper the third covering was a of paper which a pair of blue eyes was spread out in its turn the was revealed and he held it up for the smith s inspection oh � i see said the smith with a interest and drawing close poor young lady � ah terrible melancholy thing � so soon too knight and turned their heads and looked and what s that continued the smith that s the � beautifully finished isn t it ah that cost some money c tis as fine a bit of metal work as ever i see � that tis it came from the same people as the coffin you know but was not ready soon enough to be sent round to the house in london yesterday i ve got to fix it on this very night the carefully packed articles were a coffin plate and knight and came forward the s man on seeing them look for the inscription turned it round towards them and each read almost at one moment by the ruddy light of the coals of � they read it and read it and read it again � and knight � as if animated by one soul then put his hand upon knight s arm and they retired from the yellow glow further further till the chill darkness enclosed them round and the quiet sky asserted its presence overhead as a dim grey sheet of blank monotony c where shall we go said i don t know a long silence ensued married said a pair of blue eyes then in a thin whisper as if he feared to let the assertion loose on the world false whispered knight � and dead denied us both i hate false � i hate it knight made no answer nothing was heard by them now save the slow of time by their beating the soft touch of the rain upon their clothes and the low of the blacksmith s hard by c shall we follow any further said � no let us leave her alone she is beyond our love and let her be beyond our reproach since we 