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"Oh, how you love me, dear!"Cheered by her words, and even eThere was no halting, no falteringin my intention now:

"You and I, my dear, were ordained for each otherI cannot help it thatyou had already suffered before I knew youItthat I may not prevent, endurance that I may notshorten; but what a man can do is yoursNot Hell itself will stop h its torments with you in myarms!"

"Will nothing stop you, then?"Her question was breathed as softly asthe strain of an AEolian harp

"Nothing!" I said, and I heardwithin ain cah the issuewas of more than life or death:

"Not this?"She held up a corner of the shroud, and as she saw my faceand realized the answer before I spoke, went on: "With all it implies?"

"Not if it rought of the cerecloths of the da pauseHer voice was Moreover, there was in it a joyous note, as of one who feels new hope:

"But do you knohat men say?Some of them, that I am dead and buried;others, that I am not only dead and buried, but that I as that may not die the common death of manWho live on afearful life-in-death, whereby they are harmful to allThose unhappyUn-dead who, andbring eternal damnation as well as death with the poison of theirdreadful kisses!

"I knohat men say sometimes," I answered"But I know also whatthan all thevoices of the living or the deadCoed to youIf it be that your old life has to be rewon for you out of the very jawsof Death and Hell, I shall keep the faith I have pledged, and that here Ipledge again!"As I finished speaking I sank onmy arms round her, drew her close to meHer tears raineddown onhand andwhispered to me:

"This is indeed to be oneWhat ive to anyof His creatures?"We were both silent for a time

I think I was the first to recoverher: "Whenat any of our for of the voice that was just above a whisper, as softand cooing as the voice of a pigeon:

"That will be soon--as soon as I can e it, be sureMy dear, mydear!"The last four words of endear tone which ht

"Give me some token," I said, "that Iheart till we ain, and ever after, for love's sake!"Her , and with a purpose all her ownStooping for an instant, she tore off with swift, strong fingers afrag kissed it, she handed to :

"It is time that we partYou must leave me nowTake this, and keep itfor everI shall be less unhappy in ift, which for good or ill is a part of meas you know me, is close to youIt lad and even proud of this hour, as I am"She kissed me asI took it

"For life or death, I care not which, so long as I a the Jacob's ladder, I e

The last thing I saas the beautiful face of my Lady of the Shroud asshe leaned over th