She spoke in a rich chord; golden contralto strains mingled with hoarseness, as the red threads were mingled with the brown among her tresses.

It was not only a voice that spoke to my heart directly; but it spoke to me of her.

And yet her words immediately plunged me back upon despair.
'You will go away,' she said, 'to-day.' Her example broke the bonds of my speech; I felt as lightened of a weight, or as if a spell had been dissolved.

I know not in what words I answered; but, standing before her on the cliffs, I poured out the whole ardour of my love, telling her that I lived upon the thought of her, slept only to dream of her loveliness, and would gladly forswear my country, my language, and my friends, to live for ever by her side.

And then, strongly commanding myself, I changed the note; I reassured, I comforted her; I told her I had divined in her a pious and heroic spirit, with which I was worthy to sympathise, and which I longed to share and lighten.