But Ulama shook her head sagely, and smilingly made answer,
"You know you told me that the first time you saw our lake you deemed it the fairest spot on all the earth. And you did not know me then, so could not love me. How then can what you say explain it?"
Leonard laughed and took her hand in his.
"You forget that I had seen you in my dreams and had loved you long before," he said. "Perhaps some instinct told me that here I should find the abode of her who already had my heart. Or, if that explanation does not please you, here is another. Love and sympathy are inseparable; you admire, now, things that you thought little of before, because you see that _I_ admire them."
"Yes; that may be," Ulama admitted, with a thoughtful look. "But then, it does not explain why _you_ should see beauties where _I_ did not. I think you must have a quicker appreciation of the beautiful in nature than is given to me."
"It may be so; and that in turn explains how it came about that I was so quick to realise the beauty of the fairest daughter of Manoa!" And Leonard's look was so tender, so full of loving admiration, that it brought a rosy glow to Ulama's cheek. "And it also reminds me that I sought you here to tell you something of importance, something that has brought joy and gladness to my heart. I have just been talking about you with the king."
The colour in the girl's cheek grew deeper; and now she turned her glance again upon the landscape that lay sleeping in the morning sunlight.
"Dear love," continued Leonard, "think what it means to me--to both of us, I hope--when I tell you that the king has given me permission to ask you to give yourself to me! Ah! Not only has he done that, but he has done it in a manner--accompanied it with kind words of trust and confidence that have filled my whole heart with gratitude. He speaks as though I had already _proved_ that which I can only hope to show in the future--my true desire to make myself worthy of your love. His kindness and many marks of friendship towards one who is but a stranger here have overwhelmed me. I feel the whole devotion of my life to you and him can scarce repay such generous, ungrudging proofs of his confidence and favour."