o, little it mattered to her what Eloin thought. But--yes,
there was another. There was the American who had intruded and wanted to
save his empire. Maximilian recalled now her change to bitterness after
the American had left them, and a moment ago he had seen the identical
pain of self-contempt tug at her lips. And yet, once she had left the
American to die. But Maximilian answered even that objection. Leaving
him to die was a necessity for her country. And the sacrifice had gone
farther. It had not faltered before the self-degradation of which she
had just spoken.

The admiration in his eyes grew. The chivalry in his race awoke within
him, and exalted him. He felt himself become the true knight, in the
purity of devotion to a woman--a gentleman, as real chivalry would have
the term. Poor man and poet, he felt even the impulse to bend the knee
and crave as a boon some risk of life in her service, without thought of
boon thereafter--a knightly impulse nearly obsolete in chivalry, if ever
customary. But he knew now that the impulse was really possible, and the
proof was this: that the constraint between them had vanished, that soon
he was talking with her easily and naturally.

For Jacqueline also the air had become blessedly pure, and deeply,
gratefully, she breathed of it. Because now she talked with one whose
respect was a fact, who _knew_ her for what she was, and during a
moment's space she was happy, with the happiness of delusion. It seemed
that other men, that one other man, might one day know her too, and give
her his esteem. But the phantasy passed. The knowledge must forever be
restricted to the man before her, and for him she did not care.

Maximilian, very strangely, was thinking of the very self-same thing.
Here was a service in her behalf already offering. If he could cause
that other man to know? But it was out of the question. Men may convince
one another of a woman's guilt, and only too easily. But of her
innocence? No, it was absurdly out of the question. Besides, next day
the true knight would be starting back for Europe. Had he not just
decided?

CHAPTER IX

INTERPRETER TO THE ALMIGHTY

"... and could make the worse appear
The better reason."--_Paradise Lost._

After half an hour's sharp canter, Maximilian dismounted at La Teja, his
suburban hacienda. He had come quickly from Jacqueline's, for his heart
was light. The stress and storm of wavering were ended at last. Soon now
he