"Will you come?" he said. "May I take you home--now?"
She went with him, without a word, and they walked slowly home, by far
outlying paths, and long waits on rose-bowered seats they knew.
The moon filled all the world with tender light and the orange blossoms
flooded the still air with sweetness.
"Dear," said he, "I have been a proud fool--I am yet--but I have come to
see a little clearer. I do not approve of your work--I cannot approve
of it--but will you forgive me for that and marry me? I cannot live any
longer without you?"
"Of course I will," said Diantha.
WHAT DIANTHA DID
CHAPTER XIV.
AND HEAVEN BESIDE.
They were married while the flowers were knee-deep over the sunny slopes
and mesas, and the canyons gulfs of color and fragrance, and went for
their first moon together to a far high mountain valley hidden among
wooded peaks, with a clear lake for its central jewel.
A month of heaven; while wave on wave of perfect rest and
world-forgetting oblivion rolled over both their hearts.
They swam together in the dawn-flushed lake, seeing the morning mists
float up from the silver surface, breaking the still reflection of thick
trees and rosy clouds, rejoicing in the level shafts of forest filtered
sunlight. They played and ran like children, rejoiced over their picnic
meals; lay flat among the crowding flowers and slept under the tender
starlight.
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