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assail him; he is never, for a moment, oblivious of your tastes, wishes, comforts; he turns to you with a longing need for your presence; he is solitary without you, and never lonely when you are near; your companionship which was a luxury, grows an absolute necessity; he pours the history of his triumphs and failures into your cars without a doubt that you will help to bear the latter as willingly as you share the former; he thinks you as attractive when bowed down and overshadowed by sorrow as when uplifted and radiant with joy; he lingers by your side when you are prostrated by sickness, as gladly as when you are glowing with health; he fears death because it will part him from you, and prizes life because you live! The great Dispenser has entrusted to your keeping, to wear proudly, in the face of the world, the very choicest of all the earthly jewels in his vast treasury!
A pair of speaking eyes ask, "How shall we know when it is this gem of price, or its cunning imitation, which a lover offers for our acceptance?" Alas! we have no answer for that question. She who receives must pray for the power herself to distinguish between the precious stone and its glittering counterfeit.