100 FAITH AND LOVE. 



craving of the spirit, harder to be borne than any material 

 necessity ; and to love, to be beloved became a conservation 

 to the soul. She went on. 



" ' Can you love me Gilbert, and yet never seek to bind me 

 other than by this strong bond of affinity ! — Love me as thy 

 spirit- wife only ?' 



" I smiled at a spiritualism I scarcely believed real. Her 

 hands trembled, and I saw the blood steal through the trans- 

 parency of her cheek, her eye-lids drooped, and the tears 

 started from beneath them. 



" ' Gilbert, I must tell thee all, even at the hazard of losing 

 thee in this life, although I solemnly believe, that in the sight 

 of God we are one. Gilbert, I am bound by a solemn vow, 

 never to give this hand in marriage bonds. I can never be 

 thine in the face of the world.' 



" I sprang from my seat, and cast her blessed hand from me ; 

 and then I caught her wildly to my breast. ' My God, you 

 shall be mine, even if' — I was silent — for Agnes fell as one 

 dead in my arms. 



" Never, never shall I forget the emotions that swayed 

 me in that brief period of her unconsciousness. I held the 

 beautiful material within my grasp, and a cold terror seized 

 me, lest the finer essence had departed at my fearful threat, 

 and I, but half awakened to a sublime sympathy, was to be at 



