of the
situation to her enterprise.

"I must! Good-bye! One kiss, I beg!"

"But you sha'n't go!" As he came close to her, she clasped him tightly
with both arms. She made no attempt to avoid his kiss, and he, taking
this for acquiescence, bestowed the kiss upon unresponsive lips.

"Now let me go," said he, turning to stride toward the door by which
he had entered from the rear chamber.

"No, no! Stay. Time to win back my love, you said. Take the time now.
You may find me not so difficult of winning back. Nay, I have never
ceased to love you, at the bottom of my heart. I love you now. You
shall stay."

"I must not, I dare not. Oh, I would to God I could believe you! But
whether 'tis true, or a device to keep me here, I will not stay. Let
me go!"

"I will not! You will have to force me from you, first! I tell you I
love you--my husband!"

"If you love me, you will let me go."

"If you love me, you will stay."

"Not a moment--though God knows how I love you! I will come to see you
soon again."

"If you go now, I will never let you see me again!--Nay, you must drag
me after you, then!"

He was moving toward the door despite her hold; and now he caught her
wrists to force open the clasp in which she held him.

"Oh! you are crushing my arms!" she cried.

"Ay, the beautiful, dear arms--God bless them! But let me go, then!"

"I won't! You will have to kill me, first! You shall not spoil my
scheme!"

"Yours!"

"Yes, mine! Mine, against your commander, against your cause!" She was
wrought up now to a fury, at the physical force he exerted to release
himself; and for the time, swayed by her feelings only, she let policy
fly to the winds. "Your cause that I hate, because it ruined my hopes
before! You are a fool if you think my being your wife would have kept
me from fighting your hateful cause. I became your wife that I might
go to England, and when that failed I was yours no longer. Love
another? Yes!--and you shall not spoil his work and mine--not unless
you kill me!"

For a moment his mental anguish, his overwhelming shame for her,
unnerved him, and he stared at her with a ghastly face, relaxing his
pressure for freedom. But this weakness was followed by a fierce
reaction. His countenance darkened, and with one effort, the first
into which he had put his real strength, he tore her arms from him.
White-faced and breathing fast, with rage and fear of defeat, she ran
to a front window, and flung it open.