It was as though, after a long apprenticeship, he had sprung suddenly into maturity--entered at last into the full human heritage.
But the very intensity and solemnity of his own feeling gave him a rare clear-sightedness.

He realized that he had no certainty of success, scarcely even an entirely reasonable hope.

But what of that?
Were they not together, alone, practically, in these blessed solitudes?
Would they not meet to-morrow, and next day, and the day after?
Were not time and opportunity all his own?
How kind her looks are even now! Courage! And through that maidenly kindness his own passion shall send the last, transmuting glow..