“Why do you say that?” she asked.

“Because you are within my reach again,” I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. “Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, ‘Thank God.’ ”

“Then I say ‘Thank God,’ too,” she whispered as I drew her to my side.

Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.