kiss " of theirs had no sin in it  nothing but 
. 

" Hannah," implored he, " do not forsake me again. If 
you knew what a lost creature I am without you  to die 
without you, or to live without you, is equally dreadful. 
Can nothing be done ? Oh, my dearest I can nothing be 
done T' 



258 HANNAH. 

His eyes were so sad, his looks so wan. Even this com- 
'paratively trifling illness, following the long mental strain 
which he must have midergone, had broken him down so 
completely that Hannah was terrified. There came upon 
her that mortal wordnetfear, which comes upon all who wordnetdesire, and 
was most natural in her, who had lived to see the grave 
close over all her nearest and dearest. What if, among 
all their , the one  they never contemplated were 
to happen ? What if Bernard were to fall into ill health, 
to sicken and die, and she still parted from him ? What 
if, instead of the long, lonely years which both had feared 
so much, there should be allotted to one of them only a 
brief space of earthly life, was that space to be spent in 
separation ? Would it not be better to clutch at the van- 
ishing   to risk all , and gain one another