I will not soon forget the devotedness with which, on this occasion, you have perilled so much for a stranger.
Should we never again meet, I pray you to remember me in your prayers, and I shall always remember you in mine." He little knew, while he thus spoke in a manner so humbly of himself, of the deep interest which his uniform gentleness of manner and respectful deference, so different from what she had been accustomed to encounter, had inspired in her bosom; and so small at this period was his vanity, that he did not trust himself for a moment to regard the conjecture--which ever and anon thrust itself upon him--that the fearless devotion of the maiden in his behalf and for his safety, had in reality a far more selfish origin than the mere general humanity of her sex and spirit.

We will not say that she would not have done the same by any other member of the human family in like circumstances; but it is not uncharitable to believe that she would have been less anxiously interested, less warm in her interest, and less pained in the event of an unfortunate result.
Clasping the gorgeous chain about her neck, his arm again gently encircled her waist, her head drooped upon her bosom--she did not speak--she appeared scarcely to feel.

For a moment, life and all its pulses seemed resolutely at a stand; and with some apprehensions, the youth drew her to his bosom, and spoke with words full of tenderness.
She made no answer to his immediate speech; but her hands, as if unconsciously, struck the spring which locked the casket that hung upon the chain, and the miniature lay open before her, the dim light of the moon shining down upon it.

She reclosed it suddenly, and undoing it from the chain, placed it with a trembling hand in his own; and with an effort of calm and quiet playfulness, reminded him of the unintended gift.

He received it, but only to place it again in her hand, reuniting it to the chain.
"Keep it," said he, "Miss Munro--keep it until I return to reclaim it.
It will be as safe in your hands--much safer, indeed, than in mine.