Part 24 (1/2)

But she went on:

”'I would the grave would hide me, For there alone is peace.'

Ah, Lance, my love--Lance, will it happen to either of us to find peace in the grave?”

”No, we shall find peace in life first,” he said.

She laid her hand on his arm.

”Lance,” she said, ”I had a terrible dream last night. I could not sleep for many hours. When at last my eyes closed I found myself by the old mill stream. I thought that I had been driven there by some pain too great for words, and I flung myself into the stream. Oh, Lance, my love--Lance, I felt myself drowning. I felt my body floating, then sinking. My hair caught in the bending branches of a tree. The water filled my eyes and my ears. I died. In my sleep I went through all the pain of death. My last thought was of you. 'Lance,' I cried, in death as in life, 'Lance, come back to me in death!' It was a horrible dream, was it not? Do you think it will ever come true?”

”No,” he replied; but his handsome face had grown paler, and the shadows of deep trouble lay in his eyes.

She raised her face to his again.

”Lance,” she asked gently, ”do you think that any creature--any one has ever loved another as well as I love you? I often wonder about it. I see wives happy and contented, and I wonder if their husbands' smiles make heaven to them as yours do to me.”

”I do not think there are many people capable of loving as you do, Leone,” he replied, ”and now, my darling, I must leave you. Leone, spend all your time in study. A few months more of work as hard as the last three months, and my beautiful wife will be as accomplished as she is graceful. Study will help you to pa.s.s away the time.”

”I will do anything you tell me, Lance. You will let me write to you every day, and you must write often to me.”

”I will, sweet; but you will not be uneasy if my letters are not so frequent as yours; the foreign post is not so regular as ours; and if we travel in Germany I may not always be able to write.”

”I will trust you,” said the loving voice. ”I am sure you will never fail me.”

She was proud as an empress, she had the high spirit of a queen; but now that the moments of parting had come, both failed her. She clung to him, weeping pa.s.sionate tears--it was so cruelly hard, for she loved him so well. Her tears rained on his face, her trembling lips could utter no words for the bitter sobs. Never was sorrow so great, or despair so pitiful. She kissed his face with all the pa.s.sion of her love.

”Good-bye, my love,” she sighed. ”Oh, Lance, be true to me--my life lies in yours.”

”If ever I prove untrue to you, my darling, let Heaven be false to me,”

he said. ”Leone, give me one smile; I cannot go until I have seen one.”

She tried. He kissed the white lips and the weeping eyes.

”Good-bye, my beloved,” he said. ”Think of the thirteenth of June, and the roses I shall bring back with me.”

And then he was gone.

CHAPTER XXI.

WAITING FOR THE DAY.

How the days of that dreary summer pa.s.sed Leone never knew; the keenest smart of the pain came afterward. At first she was too utterly stunned and bewildered by the suddenness of the blow to realize all that happened. It was impossible to believe that her marriage had been set aside, and that her husband, as she called him, had gone away; but, as the days rolled on, she slowly but surely realized it. There was no break in the terrible monotony. The voice that made such music in her ears was silent, the footsteps that had made her heart beat and her pulse thrill were heard no more; the handsome face, always brightened with such tender love for her, no longer brought suns.h.i.+ne and warmth; it was as though the very light had gone out of her life, and left it all bleak, dark and cold.

For some days the proud heart, the proud, unyielding spirit gave way, and she longed for death; life without Lance seemed so utterly unbearable. Then youth and a naturally strong const.i.tution triumphed.

She began to think how much she could learn so as to surprise him on his return. Her soul was fired with ambition; in a few months she would achieve wonders. She set herself so much; she would become proficient on the piano and the harp; she would improve her singing; she would practice drawing; she would take lessons in French and Italian.