My fate was not alone the strangest, but the most fortunate that ever befell a man.

A double miracle had been wrought for me.

I had not been stranded upon the shore of this strange world to find myself alone and companionless.

My love, whom I had dreamed lost, had been reembodied for my consolation.

When at last, in an ecstasy of gratitude and tenderness, I folded the lovely girl in my arms, the two Ediths were blended in my thought, nor have they ever since been clearly distinguished.