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Rh showed that his love had grown with the lapse of time, and Daphne felt a thrill of delight.

He saw the look of pleasure in her face, and with a cry rushed to embrace her; but by a gesture she stopped his advance, and said to him with forced calmness—

"Thou still lovest me as much as before?"

"Thou canst not doubt it," he replied; and she read the truth in the trembling of his voice and the passion of his face.

"Wilt thou consent to my conditions—the firm resolve of my vigils?"

"I consent before I hear them," he rejoined. "Do with me as thou wilt."

"They are hard," she said; "but after what I have witnessed I cannot take less. First of all, every mystery of thy race and of thy power must be disclosed."

"I consent," he said.