'O, Lady Constantine,' he continued, bending over her, 'give me some
proof more than mere seeming and inference, which are all I have at
present, that you don't think this I tell you of presumption in me! I
have been unable to do anything since I last saw you for pondering
uncertainly on this. Some proof, or little sign, that we are one in
heart!' A blush settled again on her face; and half in effort, half in
spontaneity, she put her finger on her cheek. He almost devotionally
kissed the spot.
'Does that suffice?' she asked, scarcely giving her words voice.
'Yes; I am convinced.' 'Then that must be the end. Let me drive on; the boy will be back again
soon.' She spoke hastily, and looked askance to hide the heat of her
cheek.
'No; the tower door is open, and he will go to the top, and waste his
time in looking through the telescope.' 'Then you should rush back, for he will do some damage.' 'No; he may do what he likes, tinker and spoil the instrument, destroy my
papers,--anything, so that he will stay there and leave us alone.' She glanced up with a species of pained pleasure.
'You never used to feel like that!' she said, and there was keen self-
reproach in her voice. 'You were once so devoted to your science that
the thought of an intruder into your temple would have driven you wild.
Now you don't care; and who is to blame? Ah, not you, not you!' The animal ambled on with her, and he, leaning on the side of the little
vehicle, kept her company.
'Well, don't let us think of that,' he said. 'I offer myself and all my
energies, frankly and entirely, to you, my dear, dear lady, whose I shall
be always! But my words in telling you this will only injure my meaning
instead of emphasize it. In expressing, even to myself, my thoughts of
you, I find that I fall into phrases which, as a critic, I should
hitherto have heartily despised for their commonness. What's the use of
saying, for instance, as I have just said, that I give myself entirely to
you, and shall be yours always,--that you have my devotion, my highest
homage? Those words have been used so frequently in a flippant manner
that honest use of them is not distinguishable from the unreal.' He
turned to her, and added, smiling, 'Your eyes are to be my stars for the
future.' 'Yes, I know it,--I know it, and all you would say! I dreaded even while
I hoped for this, my dear young friend,' she replied, her eyes being full
of tears. 'I am injuring you; who knows that I am not ruining your
future,--I who ought to know better? Nothing can come of this, nothing
must,--and I am only wasting your time. Why have I drawn you off from a
grand celestial study to study poor lonely me? Say you will never
despise me, when you get older, for this episode in our lives. But you
will,--I know you will! All men do, when they have been attracted in
their unsuspecting youth, as I have attracted you. I ought to have kept
my resolve.' 'What was that?' 'To bear anything rather than draw you from your high purpose; to be like the noble citizen of old Greece, who, attending a sacrifice, let himself
be burnt to the bone by a coal that jumped into his sleeve rather than
disturb the sacred ceremony.' 'But can I not study and love both?' 'I hope so,--I earnestly hope so. But you'll be the first if you do, and I am the responsible one if you do not.' 'You speak as if I were quite a child, and you immensely older. Why, how old do you think I am? I am twenty.' 'You seem younger. Well, that's so much the better. Twenty sounds strong and firm. How old do you think I am?' 'I have never thought of considering.' He innocently turned to
scrutinize her face. She winced a little. But the instinct was
premature. Time had taken no liberties with her features as yet; nor had
trouble very roughly handled her.