"How shall I dare to meet him!" murmured
Amanda musing.

"Do not fear him;" Claude rejoined: "he will not
chide you; -- besides, you shall be gone to-morrow. I
come to-night, a Jason for the golden fleece, and may
not return without it. Stillyside is Colchis, and my
desires are dolphins that have brought me hither, and
will not, returning, ferry me across the Ottawa, unless
they shall be freighted with your form. Mine own one,
do not stand transfixed like death in life, but live
here no longer; leave it, and live with me for ever,
for from where you are my feet shall never stray.
Do not misdoubt me: though man were as faithless
as it is said that woman is fickle, yet I were loyal
towards _you_, whom I implore to be my affianced
to-night, my bride to-morrow."

"To-morrow! -- Oh, so soon," exclaimed Amanda,
starting.

"It will be a thousand years till then;" interposed
Montigny; "and yet it will be the glad millenium,
since you shall reign amidst my meditations, and
towards you all my thoughts be worshipping saints.
This dumb devotion will be bliss, but to have sealed
you mine by the great sacrament of marriage will be
glory, such as the saved soul experiences when, in
Heaven sitting, it feels itself secure, and proof against
the possibility of loss. Accord me your consent.
Why do you ponder? wherefore should you hesitate?
Amanda, be immediately mine. What are your
thoughts? What are you that transports me with
impatience out of myself, to mingle with your being,
and become one with yourself in history and fate?
Our fate commands; let us obey it, since, what is fate's

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v?