“Come to me — come to me entirely now,” said he; and added, in his deepest tone, speaking in my ear as his cheek was laid on mine, “Make my happiness — i will make yours.”

“God pardon me!” he said ere long, “and man meddle not with me; I have her and will hold her.”

“There is no one to meddle, sir. I have no kindred to interfere.”

“No — that is the best of it,” he said. And if I had loved him less I should have thought his accent and look of exultation savage; but, sitting by him, roused from the nightmare of parting — called to the paradise of union — I thought only of the bliss given me to drink in so abundant a flow. Again and again he said, “Are you you happy, Jane?” And again and again I answered, “Yes.”