he
duchess into Bleiberg? It shall be done. Sacrifice? I have sacrificed
the best years of youth for nothing; my life has been made up of
sacrifices."

"Monsieur, if I promised to listen to you here-after, if I promised a
heart that has never known the love of man, if I promised lips that have
never known the lips of any man save my father--" She moved away from
the chair, within an arm's length of him. "If I promised all these
without reservation, would you aid me to give back to the duchess her
own?"

Instantly her arms were pinioned to her sides, and he had drawn her so
close that she could feel his heart beat against her own.

"Have no fear," he said. The voice was unfamiliar to her ears. "I shall
not kiss you. Let me look into your eyes, Madame, your eyes, and read
the lie which is written there. My fortune and my life are not enough.
Keep your love, Madame; I have no wish to purchase it. What! if I
surrender my honor it is agreed that you surrender yours? A love such as
mine requires a wife. You would have me break my word to the dead and
to the living, and you expect me to believe in your promises! Faugh!" He
pushed her from him, and resumed his stand by the window.

The hate of a thousand ancestors surged into her heart, and she would
have liked to kill him. Mistress! He had dared. He had dared to speak to
her as no other man living or dead had dared. And he lived. All that
was tigerish in her soul rose to the surface; only the thought of the
glittering goal stayed the outburst. She had yet one weapon. A minute
went by, still another; silence. A hand was laid tremblingly on his arm.

"Forgive me! I was wrong. Love me, love me, if you must. Keep your
honor; love me without conditions. I--" She stumbled into the chair,
covered her eyes and fell to weeping.

Fitzgerald, dumfounded and dismayed, looked down at the beautiful head.
He could fight angry words, tempests of wrath--but tears, a woman's
tears, the tears of the woman he loved!

"Madame," he said gently, "do you love me?"

No answer.

"Madame, for God's sake, do not weep! Do you love me? If you love me--if
you love me--"

She sprang to her feet. Once again she experienced that shiver; again
her conscience stirred.

"I do not know," she said. "But this I may say: your honor, which you
hold above the price of a woman's love, will be the cause of bloodshed.
Mothers and wives and sisters will execrate your name, brave men will be
sacrificed needle