San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-13

unc~alculating trust of his-that was so
beyond reason, and yet, in its very
abandonment of reason, so priceless
and divine a thing to her-how could
she ever repay him for it? how
could she ever eve bless him for it as
her heart burnt to bless him?
She could not answer him when he
had finished speaking, but she bent her
head presently till her lips touched his
hand and kissed it. She was not wise
to perform that passionate act of
homage, but she did not think of wis
dom as she did it; she only thought
HE has given me what no n else has
ever given me in the wide world;" and
the regal hand that had bestowed so
much upon her, what could she do less
to it than kiss it with a kiss that should
rest on it like a silent blessing?
She did not ask herself what would
follow-what only could follow then.
She brought his first kiss upon her lips
by that imprudent n of hers. He put
his arm about her and imprisoned her
as she raised her head; and then-she
burst into tears, but she did not oppose
him, or even shrink from him, any
more.
For a good while after that she let
him say what he liked to her. She was
stunned, bewildered, half miserable,
half in heaven. She said to him nee
after several minutes had passed The
had been talking to her, and holding
her to his heart)-
II shall eve make you happy again
never after these few moments. If
make you happy just for this once, do
x,nr, fhipE II will foil For anuthipn In tho
future?" And she looked up into his
face as she asked him this.
She said to him-''If l could but live
for one week like this. and then die!"
Undoubtedly another sort of woman,
meaning, as firmly as Esther meant,
not to marry Mr.. DunStan, would never
have permitted him to know how dear
ly she cared for him. But, you see, this
woman was too weak to be able to con-
ceal her love. She knew no heaven like
the heaven of being with him, nor any
pain like the pain of refusing what he
asked. This one hour, she thought
was not God giving it to her out of all
the waste of desolate hours to conner
giving her this-the blessing of these
few divine moments-to keep her heart
from breaking in the years when she
should be alone?
He had said to her already, while he
held her with her face touching his
Tell me your secret now?" but she had
not told it to him.
He had said to her-"Whatever it is,
it shall not part us. Do you think that
anything can part us any more? My
darling, trust me, and try. Tell it to
me now"
But she cried in an agony-"I cannot!
Oh, not to-night-not herel" And then
presently-'I must tell it to you now-I
know that; but oh, leave me this one
night" she said passionately. II shall
never be anything to you after this.
Leave me to feel what other women
feel-just for this n night" And
then he put her face upon his breast,
and did not urge her any more.
Instead of that he gave her to the ut
most what she asked for, and made this
hour that they spent together the divin-
est hour of all her life,-an hour so in
tensely dear to her that the memory of
it afterward was like the memory of
some great sunrise,-of a great flood of
heavens light that had poured over her,
and TRANSPORTED and transformed the
world. For, during that one little hour,
did anything seem to her as it had ever
seemed before? Life had become gold
en-; sorrow had ceased; fear had almost
fled away; she closed her eyes, and half
forgot both past and future.
II shall awake presently" she said to
him once wistfully. II know l shall
awake, and all this will come to an end;
only just for this little while let me be
still and hold your hand" And then
her fingers closed round his, and she
sat so letting him talk to her, as if she
was in a dream. She hardly resisted
anything that he chose to do or say.
He pressed her head upon his breast
once and she blessed him in her heart,
and let it rest there. 1T is only for to-
night" she said to herself-''for this
n night"
She said to him once
81 am doing wrong, l know. fought
to have prevented this. have no right
to any of it,-and l have no right to
permit it, for uour sake" And then she
cried bitterly-"Oh, that is the worst
that is a thousand times the worstl
What shall l do if l make it hard for
you?"
But he first laughed at her when she
said this, and then soothed her with
grave and tender words.
LAS for making 1t hard for me" he
said, you could only have made any
thing hard to me in n way, and you
haven't taken that way, you see. AS
for what is to come after this,-once for
all, Esther, have no fear and no scru-
Piles about that. l am content to love
you, let what will come of it. / loved
you before you ever gave a thought to
me, so there is no blame for you in the
matter. And, if it all were to do once
more from the beginning, and though |
were to know that after that night l
should never see your face again, L
would choose to have every hour that is
gone repeated, and would be content