wife."

Nicanor looked at her.

"Why, thou knowest that may not be," he said gently, yet with some
surprise. "I am a slave, and a slave hath no rights before the law, nor
to lawful marriage. It is the law. But come thou!"

Eldris turned white.

"I am Christian!" she said painfully, "and that thing I may not do.
Father Ambrose teacheth that Christ hath forbidden."

"I did not make the law," said Nicanor. "Could I do so, I'd give thee
gladly the name of wife. But even thus, more of honor I could not give
thee. It is not what I wish to do, but what I must do." He took her face
between his hands. "Child, the law is made, not by man, but by men; and
it is not for man only, but for men. Were it not found good by men, it
could not be. And the law, in its wisdom, saith that a slave is a beast,
a thing without rights; and I am a slave. There is no law which could
marry me to thee.... I cannot give thee marriage,--I, a slave."

"And I, a Christian, cannot go without," said Eldris, very low. Two
tears rolled from beneath her wan closed lids. Nicanor bent his tall
head and kissed them away, with what tenderness a brother might give a
sister dearly loved. But with sudden wild sobbing Eldris flung up her
arms and clasped his neck, and hid her face against him.

"Oh, I would go with thee!" she wept. "Heart of my heart, I would follow
to the world's end, wherever thy path might lead me. I love thee,
Nicanor, oh, my man of the silver tongue! and I shall love thee even
till I die. But go with thee I may not--I dare not! Is this right? Were
thy law and my religion made for this, to wreak such woe upon those who
follow them? It is cruel,--it is more cruel than death, and I would to
God that I were dead!"

Nicanor stood a moment silent, stroking her dark hair gently.

"No man would hold thee less worthy, since the case is as it must be.
Never have I heard of slaves who took thy view of this. All thy life
shalt thou have honor and protection. Were it in my power to mend
matters, and I did not, the fault would then lie with me. As it is, it
is no man's fault, and we have the right to make the best we may of it."

She shook her head, struggling with her tears. His tone changed; it
deepened and thrilled until she thrilled with it; in it she heard the
concentration of all loneliness and all bitterness.

"Come to me, Eldris, for I need thee sorely! All my life have I gone
chained, desiring what I could not win, longing for what lay be