Page 221 - The snake's pass

UN MAUVAIS QUART D'HEURE. 209
I had lost her; and, bending, I kissed the ground
where her feet had rested. And then I prayed as fer-
vent a prayer as the heart of a lover can yield, for
every blessing on the future of my beloved ; and made
high resolves that whatsoever might befall, I would so
devote myself that, if a man's efforts could accomplish
it, her feet should never fall on thorny places.
I sat there in a tumult of happiness. The air was
full of hope, and love, and light; and I felt that in all
the wild glory and fulness of nature the one unworthy
object was myself.
"When the hour was nearly up I went back to the
cottage ; the door was open, but I knocked on it with
my hand. A tender voice called to me to come in, and
I entered.
Norah was standing up in the centre of the room. Her
face was radiant, although her sweet eyes were bright
with recent tears ; and I could see that in the hour
which I had passed on the rock, the hearts of the father
and the child had freely spoken. The old love between
them had taken a newer and fuller and more conscious
life—based, as God has willed it with the hearts of
men, on the parent's sacrifice of self for the happiness
of the child.
Without a word I took her in my arms. She came
without bashfulness and without fear only love and
;
trust spoke in every look, and every moment. The cup
of our happiness was full to the brim ; and it seemed
as though God saw, and, as of old with His completed
p