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32
IDALIA

"O God!—if it be love—not pity—stoop down and kiss me once."

She was silent awhile, looking motionless upon him in the grey, fitful, shadowy haze, that was dusky and darkened by the massive canopy of foliage above; then—with a faint flush rising over the weary faimess of her face—lower and lower she drooped her imperial head, and let her lips rest in the answer that he prayed for on his own.