Front matter (continued 7)
Reading edition
"Mistress Barbara," he pleaded, "have I not told you your eyes are like unto the clear depths of the heavens? Alas! why are the heavens so oft veiled from the gaze of man?"
She answered not, but turned her head slightly, and he saw a smile was playing round her lips.
"Is it lest by too long contemplation of their beauty, a man should lose himself in longing?" he asked again.
Then Barbara turned her head and faced him, but still her lashes drooped, and she whispered very softly:
"Nay, but rather lest by too long contemplation a man should learn their secret."
"Ah, Barbara," he pleaded; "be merciful. Show me the secret of the heavens."
So she raised her eyes to his, and far in their depths he read her secret.
And she, stooping, gave her face to his kisses, and her life to him for all its span.