I find them pleasant, Vernoon," and without waiting for his permission, she sat up and did so.

"Ah!" she went on, "we shall be happy when we are married, shall we not?
Do not be afraid, Vernoon, I will not eat out your heart as I have those of the men that went before you.

We will live together until we are old, and die together at last, and together be born again, and so on and on till the end which even I cannot foresee.

Why do you not smile, Vernoon, and say that you are pleased, and that you will be happy with me who loved you from the moment that my eyes fell upon you in sleep?
Speak, Vernoon, lest I should grow angry with you." "I don't know what to say," answered Alan despairingly through Jeekie, "the honour is too great for me, who am but a wandering trader who came here to barter Little Bonsa against the gold I need"-- to support my wife and family, he was about to add, then remembering that this statement might not be well received, substituted, "to support my old parents and eight brothers and sisters who are dependent upon me, and remain hungry until I return to them." "Then I think they will remain hungry a long time, Vernoon, for while I live you shall never return.

Much as I love you I would kill you first," and her eyes glittered as she said the words.