The light wind
stirred in the cedrine junipers, shaking out perfume; the great
fairy pile of the palace rose behind them; and before them lay the
monstrous moon-lit abyss than whose depths the very stars, warm and
friendly, seemed nearer to them. To the big young American in blue
serge beside the little new princess who had drawn him over seas the
dream that one is always having and never quite remembering was
suddenly come true. No wonder that at that moment the patient Amory
was far enough from his mind. To St. George, looking down upon
Olivia, there was only one truth and one joy in the universe, and
she was that truth and that joy.
"I can't believe it," he said boyishly.
"Believe--what?" she asked, for the delight of hearing him say so.
"This--me--most of all, you!" he answered.
"But you must believe it," she cried anxiously, "or maybe it will
stop being."
"I will, I will, I am now!" promised St. George in alarm.
Whereat they both laughed again in sheer light-heartedness. Then,
resting his broad shoulders against a prism of the parapet, St.
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