"Do I not, dearest?"
"And then, when I saw you to-day, all the light and warmth came rushing
back, and I knew that it was you who were my light, my sun, and that
without you I was not living, but only a shadow and a mockery of life."
Her hands fell from his breast, her head sank upon his knees, she sobbed
in the abandonment of her passion.
And the man was awed by it, and almost as white as herself. He gathered
her in his strong arms and murmured passionate words of love and
gratitude and devotion.
"Nell, Nell, my Nell! God make me more worthy of your love!" he said
brokenly, hoarsely.
She raised her head from his knees and offered him--of her own free
will--her sweet lips, and then clung to him with a half-tearful,
maidenly shame.
"Let me go!" she said.
* * * * * The light that never was on earth or sky beamed on the _Annie Laurie_ as
it skimmed toward the jetty.
Nell sat in the stern, and Drake lay at her feet, his arms round her,
his face upturned to hers.
God knows he was grateful for her love. God also knows how unworthy he
felt. This love is such a terrible thing. A maiden goes through the ways
of life, in maiden meditation fancy free, pausing beside the brook to
pluck the flowers which grow on its bank, and thinking of nothing but
the simple girlish things which pertain to maidenhood. Then suddenly a
shadow falls across her path. It is the shadow of the Man, and the love
which shall raise her to heaven or drag her down to the nethermost hell.
A glance, a word, and her fate is decided; before her stretch the long
years of joy or misery.
And, alas! she has no choice! Love is lord of all, of our lives, of our
fate, and none can say him nay. No one of us can elect to love a little
wisely, or unwisely and too well.
But there was no doubt, no misgiving, in Nell's mind that night. She had
given herself to this man who had fallen at her feet in Shorne Mills,
and she had given herself fully and unreservedly. His very presence was
a joy to her. It was a subtle delight to reach out her hand and touch
him, though with the tips of her fingers. The gates of paradise had
opened and she had entered in.
How short the hour seemed during which they had sailed toward the jetty!
She breathed a sigh, which Drake echoed.