Not a word, not a look, not a sign had he given me to suppose that he would not return; not a thought, not a wish had he breathed to me that you might not hear.

His miniature hung in a locket around my neck, even as my whole heart and soul hung upon his love.

'So help me God!' he whispered, and left me.
"He did not come back.

I thought my heart was frozen.

My mother sighed as she went on with her hard, incessant work.