"Fie! you who affect not to care for poetry!"

"That was before you went away; before I missed you from my eyes, from my
life; before I was quite conscious how precious you were to me, more
precious than common words can tell! Yes, there is one period in love
when all men are poets, however the penury of their language may belie the
luxuriance of their fancies. What would become of me if you ceased to
love me?"

"Or of me, if you could cease to love?"

"And somehow it seems to me this evening as if my heart drew nearer to
you,--nearer as if for shelter."

"It is sympathy," said she, with tremulous eagerness,--"that sort of
mysterious sympathy which I have often heard you deny or deride; for I,
too, feel drawn nearer to you, as if there were a storm at hand. I was
oppressed by an indescribable terror in returning home, and the moment I
saw you there came a sense of protection."

Her head sank on my shoulder: we were silent some moments; then we both
rose by the same involuntary impulse, and round her slight form I twined
my strong arm of man. And now we are winding slow under the lilacs and
acacias that belt the lawn. Lilian has not yet heard of the murder, which
forms the one topic of the town, for all tales of violence and blood
affected her as they affect a fearful child. Mrs. Ashleigh, therefore,
had judiciously concealed from her the letters and the journals by which
the dismal news had been carried to herself. I need scarcely say that the
grim subject was not broached by me. In fact, my own mind escaped from