For in this moment the one precious gift for which her soul had long been yearning had been freely given to her.

She knew all at once, that she was fondly loved by that one man whom she had chosen for her idol and her hero.
What matter that he was fortuneless, a nobody, with but the poorest chances of success in the world?
What if he must needs, only to win the bare means of existence, go to Australia and keep sheep, or to the Bed River valley and grow corn?
What if he must labour, as the peasants laboured on the sides of this rude hill?
Gladly would she go with him to a strange country, and keep his log cabin, and work for him, and share his toilsome life, rough or smooth.

No loss of social rank could lessen her pride in him, her belief in him.
They were standing side by side a little way from the edge of the sheer descent, below which the Bed Tarn showed black in a basin scooped out of the naked hill, like water held in the hollow of a giant's hand.
'Look,' cried Mary, pointing downward, 'you must see the Red Tarn, the highest water in England ?' But just at this moment there came a blast which shook even Hammond's strong frame, and with a cry of fear he snatched Mary in his arms and carried her away from the edge of the hill.

He folded her in his arms and held her there, thirty yards away from the precipice, safely sheltered against his breast, while the wind raved round them, blowing her hair from the broad, white brow, and showing him that noble forehead in all its power and beauty; while the darkness deepened round them so that they could see hardly anything except each other's eyes.
'My love, my own dear love,' he murmured fondly; 'I will trust you with my life.

Will you accept the trust?
I am hardly worthy; for less than a year ago I offered myself to your sister, and I thought she was the only woman in this wide world who could make me happy.