e to make the
conditions of his life what they must be; according to the measure of
his untamed strength he suffered, in fierce revolt against the mocking
Fates who were stronger than he.

A clapping of hands, sharp and crackling, roused him. He brushed the
hair from his eyes, and again looked down upon them, so far below, so
far above him. The central figure had withdrawn, but the betrothed
couple, hand clasped in hand, still stood together. The table was in
commotion; women pelted the two with flowers, and men were on their feet
and shouting. Nicanor saw Marius bend his head and kiss Varia upon the
lips. So was their covenant sealed before the law; in sight of all the
world her lord had claimed her, and she was no longer all her own.

High in his eyrie Nicanor laughed, with a flash of his old lawless
triumph.

"Thy lips are not the first on hers, sir bridegroom! Her head hath lain
on another breast than thine; other arms than thine have held her, O my
lord! What if this also were to be known? Where then would be thy
triumph?" He raised his clenched hands fiercely, sending forth his empty
challenge to the heedless stars. "Thy wife is not all thine, my lord!
Her body thou mayst purchase and possess, but her soul is mine, mine,
mine, for all time and all eternity! I, who waked it from its empty
sleep--I, who taught it first to live and love--I am her soul's lord
even as thou art her body's master--I, the slave!"

His voice stopped on the words, changed, and grew strained with infinite
love and longing, all its fierce triumph gone.

"Eh, thou very sweet, we dreamed awhile, and the dream was sweeter than
ever was dream before, and it is over! The wound in thy child's heart
will heal, for thy love is a child's love, and when it may grow no more
will fade and die. Yet it may be that it shall be never quite forgotten;
that in after days a word, a song, the fragrance of a flower, will bring
to thee dim memories of what is gone. But my love must last, to burn and
sear since it may not bless me, for it is not a child's love, beloved!
We had no right to happiness, thou and I. But wherefore not? And who
decreed it so? I may not have one last look from thee, one touch of thy
tender hands,--O little hands that have clung to mine!--and all my heart
is a tomb where my love lies buried. Long months have I lain in
darkness, but in my heart was light, for I dreamed of the time when I
should come to thee. Now all is dark, and my stre