Are prayers and blessings a less reward than gold ?" "And mine, then, are not worthless?
Thou wilt accept of mine ?" "Ah, Viola!" exclaimed Zanoni, with a sudden passion, that covered her face with blushes, "thou only, methinks, on all the earth, hast the power to wound or delight me!" He checked himself, and his face became grave and sad.

"And this," he added, in an altered tone, "because, if thou wouldst heed my counsels, methinks I could guide a guileless heart to a happy fate." "Thy counsels! I will obey them all.

Mould me to what thou wilt.

In thine absence, I am as a child that fears every shadow in the dark; in thy presence, my soul expands, and the whole world seems calm with a celestial noonday.

Do not deny to me that presence.