And as, so it seemed to her, the sympathetic relations and understanding between them grew, she became franker, talked of her aspirations--new-born aspirations in harmony with his life and belief.

And, explaining herself for his benefit and bringing to light her inmost being to show to him, she saw it herself.

And when she one day said to him, "Your illness has made a better woman of me, father, dear father," she felt it with all her heart.
It was from this atmosphere, and enveloped in it, that she went out to greet Ross; and, as she went, she was surprised at her own calmness before the prospect of seeing him again, after six months' separation--the longest in their lives.
His expression was scrupulously correct--joy at seeing her shadowed by sympathy for her calamity.

When they were safely alone, he took her hand and was about to kiss her.

Her beauty was of the kind that is different from, and beyond, memory's best photograph.