He
recollected the tone in which she had said, and the surprise with
which he heard her say it, at the time of Felipe's fall, "You are
Alessandro, are you not?" He heard again her soft-whispered
prayers the first night Felipe slept on the veranda. He recalled her
tender distress because the shearers had had no dinner; the evident
terribleness to her of a person going one whole day without food.
"O God! will she always have food each day if she comes with
me?" he said. And at the bare thought he was ready to flee away
from her forever. Then he recalled her look and her words only a
few hours ago, when he first told her he loved her; and his heart
took courage. She had said, "I know you love me, Alessandro, and
I am glad of it," and had lifted her eyes to his, with all the love that
a woman's eyes can carry; and when he threw his arms around her,
she had of her own accord come closer, and laid one hand on his
shoulder, and turned her face to his. Ah, what else mattered! There
was the whole world; if she loved him like this, nothing could
make them wretched; his love would be enough for her,-- and for
him hers was an empire.
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