"Come down to you, my angel and my queen! to you, whose beauty is so
heavenly and so royal that it seems to me everyone should worship and
adore you! how could I come down to you! Ah, Nora, it seems to me that
it is you who have stooped to me! There are kings on this earth, my
beloved, who might be proud to place such regal beauty on their thrones
beside them! For, oh! you are as beautiful, my Nora, as any woman of
old, for whom heroes lost worlds!"
"Do you think so? do you really think so? I am so glad for your sake! I
wish I were ten times as beautiful! and high-born, and learned, and
accomplished, and wealthy, and everything else that is good, for your
sake! Herman, I would be willing to pass through a fiery furnace if by
doing so I could come out like refined gold, for your sake!"
"Hush, hush, sweet love! that fiery furnace of which you speak is the
Scriptural symbol for fearful trial and intense suffering! far be it
from you! for I would rather my whole body were consumed to ashes than
one shining tress of your raven hair should be singed!"
"But, Herman! one of the books you read to me said: 'All that is good
must be toiled for; all that is best must be suffered for'; and I am
willing to do or bear anything in the world that would make me more
worthy of you!"
"My darling, you are worthy of a monarch, and much too good for me!"
"How kind you are to say so! but for all that I know I am only a poor,
humble, ignorant girl, quite unfit to be your wife! And, oh! sometimes
it makes me very sad to think so!" said Nora, with a deep sigh.
"Then do not think so, my own! why should you? You are beautiful; you
are good; you are lovely and beloved, and you ought to be happy!"
exclaimed Herman.
"Oh, I am happy! very happy now! For whatever I do or say, right or
wrong, is good in your eyes, and pleases you because you love me so
much. God bless you! God love you! God save you, whatever becomes of
your poor Nora!" she said, with a still heavier sigh.
At this moment a soft summer cloud floated between them and the blazing
meridian sun, veiling its glory.
"Why, what is the matter, love? What has come over you?" inquired
Herman, gently caressing her.