"The gift of such a
woman's love has been the dream, the ambition of my life! I may
never find it, or having found it may never be worthy of it; and yet
I must find it or die! I must find it where alone I seek it--there
or nowhere! Can you help me for friendship's sake--for love's sake,
Amelie de Repentigny, to find that one treasure that is precious as
life, which is life itself to the heart of Pierre Philibert?"
He took hold of her passive hands. They trembled in his, but she
offered not to withdraw them. Indeed, she hardly noticed the act in
the tide of emotion which was surging in her bosom. Her heart moved
with a wild yearning to tell him that he had found the treasure he
sought,--that a love as strong and as devoted as that of Francesca
da Rimini was her own free gift to him.
She tried to answer him, but could not. Her hand still remained
fast locked in his. He held to it as a drowning man holds to the
hand that is stretched to save him.
Philibert knew at that moment that the hour of his fate was come.
He would never let go that hand again till he called it his own, or
received from it a sign to be gone forever from the presence of
Amelie de Repentigny.
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