Those eyes met his, and he could not withdraw from the charm of their gaze.

He felt her heart throbbing beneath his own; her breath came warm upon his cheek.

He trembled,--HE! the lofty, the mysterious Zanoni, who seemed to stand aloof from his race.

With a deep and burning sigh, he murmured, "Viola, I love thee! Oh!" he continued passionately, and, releasing his hold, he threw himself abruptly at her feet, "I no more command,--as woman should be wooed, I woo thee.

From the first glance of those eyes, from the first sound of thy voice, thou becamest too fatally dear to me.