_
BLANCHE. And for me! I knew then for the first time you loved me, and
that I loved you. Oh! how short life of a sudden seemed! Not half long
enough for the happiness it held for me! [_She turns upon him with a
vivid change of feeling._] Has it turned out so?
STERLING. How different! Oh, what a beast! what a fool!
BLANCHE. [_Speaking with pathetic emotion, tears in her throat and in
her eyes._] And that early summer's day you asked me to be your wife!
[_She gives a little exclamation, half a sob, half a laugh._] It was in
the corner of the garden; I can smell the lilacs now! And the raindrops
fell from the branches as my happy tears did on father's shoulder that
night, when I said, "Father, he will make me the happiest woman in the
world!"
STERLING. O God! to have your love back!
BLANCHE. You can't breathe life back into a dead thing; how different
the world would be if one could!
STERLING. You can bring back life to the drowned; perhaps your love is
only drowned in the sorrow I've caused.
BLANCHE. [_Smiles sadly and shakes her head; the smile dies away._] Life
to me then was like a glorious staircase, and I mounted happy step after
step led by your hand till everything _seemed_ to culminate on the day
of our wedding.
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