When he saw her sitting there all alone, so young, and good, and beautiful, and kind to him; and heard her thrilling voice, so natural and sweet, and such a golden link between him and all his life's love and happiness, rising out of the silence; he turned his face away, and hid his tears.

The Works of Charles Dickens in Thirty-four [i.e. Thirty-eight] Volumes (ed. 1868)