at least he would give himself the pleasure of
wounding her in a tender point. He took his hat in his hand, and,
holding it behind his back, said, in a cold, cutting voice:

"I neither understand your dislike to the prince nor your extreme
delicacy. Prince Sondersheim is no way inferior to the men you have
admitted to your intimacy."

At this insult Eveline seized the hand of the abbe, and cried, with a
sudden abandonment of her usual reserve:

"Oh, father, I have never been a wife; I am still as innocent as a
child!"

The abbe looked at her in unfeigned astonishment. He saw by her
burning blushes, her modest, downcast eyes, her childish sobs, that
she was speaking the truth. He sighed deeply; he could not help it. It
was his last stake, and he had lost. Good-bye to glory, to greatness.
All had vanished into thin air at Eveline's words; they had scattered
his dreams. He recognized that all the great deeds which have made men
famous were as dust and ashes in comparison with the real nobility of
soul possessed by this peasant girl, this woman who, in obedience to
her husband's infamous commands, and because she had sworn to obey
him, had worn the mask of a Phryne while she preserved the purity of a
saint. By no act of his should she descend from her pedestal.

"Eveline," he said, in a voice of deep emotion, "the words you have
spoken banish me to my cell. My dreams of power and splendor lie in
the dust--their fitting place. You said,'I am still innocent'; my
child, keep yourself so. The French law recognizes no marriage unless
it has been contracted before the civil authorities. Your marriage
with Felix Kaulmann is in this country null and void; you are here
Mademoiselle Eva Dirkmal, nothing more. You can tell Kaulmann that I
have told you this. I have given him the same information, as he
wished to free himself from this nominal tie to you. And now,
farewell; I return to my monastery, to reconcile myself with an
offended God."

Eva Dirkmal threw herself at the feet of the priest, and covered his
hands with tears and kisses.

"Put your hand upon my head," she sobbed, "and ask God to bless me."

"My daughter," said the abbe, "an invincible hand watches over you and
protects you. May you ever be thus safely guarded."

With these words the priest left the room. He did as he said; he
sought no further interview with Kaulmann, but went straight to the
railway, and buried himself in his monastery. The world knew him