"
"Bless her," murmured Julia.
"And I walked, and mused, and dreamed all the night; and this morning
I sent your kind, good father a note, and came off. I came as directly
here as I could, and now indeed I believe God sent me."
His arm was about her, and he held both her hands. The frank
confession, so sweet to her, had its immediate reward from her lips.
"Arthur," she said, "I, too, came to see this place, with its sweet
and sacred memories. I have been here three times before. You may know
every thought and feeling of my heart. I could not have got through
the day without coming: and how blessed I am for coming. Do you
remember, when you had done all you could for my rest and comfort,
how, on that awful yet precious night, you asked me if I had said a
prayer, and I asked you to pray? Do you know that my mother and I both
believe that that prayer was answered, and that she was impressed
with my safety in answer to it? Oh, how grateful to our Father for his
goodness to us we should be. Arthur, can you thank Him for us, now?"
And they knelt in the forest solitude, with God and his blessed sun
and blue sky, and their two young, pure, loving hearts joined in a
fervent outpouring of gratitude.
"Our Father, for the precious and blessed revelation of our hearts,
each to the other, we thank Thee. Let this love be as pure, and
sacred, and holy, and eternal, as we now feel it to be. Grant, dear
Father, that it may be sanctified by holy marriage; and that through
Thy gracious providence, this union of hearts and souls may ever
be ours.
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