When she saw Stephen, she was happy because she saw him; and when she did not see him, she was happy because she had seen him, and would soon see him again.

Past, present, and future all melt into one great harmonious whole under the spell of love in a nature like Mercy's.

They are like so many rooms in one great house; and in one or the other the loved being is always to be found, always at home, can never depart! Could one be lonely for a moment in such a house?
Mercy's perpetual and abiding joy at times terrified Stephen.

It was a thing so foreign to his own nature that it seemed to him hardly natural.
Calm acquiescence he could understand,--serene endurance: he himself never chafed at the barriers, little or great, which kept him from Mercy.

But there were many days when his sense of deprivation made him sad, subdued, and quiet.