ch gold was the mere
background; jacinths were the stamens of the flowers, and pierced
diamonds were the dewdrops on their leaves; he saw the chalices and
patens of amethyst and jade, the crucifixes of beaten gold, in which
rubies were set solid, as if they had been floated on the molten metal;
he saw the seven-light candelabrum, the bobeches of which were sliced
emeralds, and then his eyes, groping in this wilderness of beauty,
lighted on the turquoise cup.

"My God!" he exclaimed, "she is right. She is selling herself for the
most beautiful thing in the world. To steal it is a crime like
Cromwell's--too great to be punished," and he put out his hand.

Then, with the cup and Nora within his reach, he heard a still, small
voice, and his hand fell.

He began to argue with his conscience. "Who owns this cup?" he asked.
"No one. The cardinal said it had been stolen. He said no one could sell
it because no one could give title. Why, then, is it not mine as well as
any one's? If I take it, whom do I wrong? Great men have never let
trifles of right and wrong disturb their conduct. Who would ever have
won a battle if he had taken thought of the widows? Who would ever have
attained any great thing if he had not despised small things?" and he
put out his hand again; and then came surging into his mind the
provisions of that code which birth, associations, his school life, and,
most of all, his mother, had taught him. What would they say and do at
his clubs? Where, in all the world, could he hide himself, if he did
this thing? He turned and fled, and, running down the church steps, he
came face to face with Lady Nora and Phelim. They were laughing gayly;
but, when they saw the earl's face, their laughter ceased.

"Have you seen a ghost, my lord?" asked Phelim.

The earl did not answer; he did not even hear. He stood gazing at Lady
Nora. For one brief moment, when he stood before the cup, he had
questioned whether a woman who would impose such a condition could be
worth winning; and now, before her, her beauty overwhelmed him. He
forgot Phelim; he forgot the passers-by; he forgot everything, except
the woman he loved--the woman he had lost.

"Nora," he said, "I give you back your promise. I cannot give you the
cup."

The color left her cheeks and her hands flew up to her heart--she gazed
at him with love and pity in her eyes, and then, suddenly, her cheeks
flamed, her white teeth pressed her lower lip, her little foot stam