I am yours and you are mine--I your husband, you my wife till our life's end!" He laid his hands on her shoulders, and turned her face round to his; she resisted no longer, for it was sweet to her to yield her will to that of this strong man.

And how happy was she, who from her childhood had taken it upon herself to be always strong, and self-reliant, to feel herself the weaker, and to be permitted to trust in a stronger arm than her own.

Somewhat thus a young rose-tree might feel, which for the first time receives the support of the prop to which it is tied by the careful gardener.
Her eyes rested blissfully and yet anxiously on his, and his lips had just touched hers in a first kiss when they started apart in terror, for Klea's name was clearly shouted through the still night-air, and in the next instant a loud scream rang out close to them followed by dull cries of pain.
"The murderers!" shrieked Klea, and trembling for herself and for him she clung closely to her lover's breast.

In one brief moment the self-reliant heroine--proud in her death-defying valor--had become a weak, submissive, dependent woman..