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Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878

"Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home"

"
She laid her head again upon his bosom. Hour after hour they sat,
and the light swells of the sea heaved them aimlessly to and fro,
and the sun burned them, and the spray drenched their limbs. At
last Leonard Clare roused himself and looked around: he felt numb
and faint, and he saw, also, that her strength was rapidly failing.
"We cannot live much longer, I fear," he said, clasping her closely
in his arms. "Kiss me once, darling, and then we will die."
She clung to him and kissed him.
"There is life, not death, in your lips!" he cried. "Oh, God, if
we should live!"
He rose painfully to his feet, stood, tottering? on the raft, and
looked across the waves. Presently he began to tremble, then to
sob like a child, and at last spoke, through his tears:
"A sail! a sail!--and heading towards us!"

MRS. STRONGITHARM'S REPORT.
Mr. Editor,--If you ever read the "Burroak Banner" (which you will
find among your exchanges, as the editor publishes your prospectus
for six weeks every year, and sends no bill to you) my name will
not be that of a stranger.


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