The Romance of a Water-Lily. 159

 

And her tears fell as soft rain on Michael’s parched
soul, and he leapt forward and clasped her to his breast.

For aspace they stood thus, and then Salome spoke
amid her tears.

“TI came to save thee,” faltered she ; “and yet it is
not I who have saved thee—it is she, the sweet fairy.
But for her I should have lost thee and have been for
ever miserable. Unhappy me! Ah, Michael! how
can it be that thou dost not love her better than me
—who have been so hard and so cruel to thee?”

“My beloved,” he answered, “methinks thou art
she and she is thou. It was love for thee that first
made her visible to me in the heart of the flowers ; it
is love for me that has made her clear now to thine
eyes, Wewill never forget her, for in our very love
is she remembered, and if the world should ever dim
or tarnish it, we will find it again in the heart of the
Rhone lily.”

THE END.