u only the finished work. I wished to keep you beyond the
circle of my danger; but shall I confess my weakness? I feared to die, if
I have to die, misjudged by you. I can well sustain the idea of the
world's malediction, but not of yours; but this has decided me upon
avowing all to you."

"What! and but for this thought, you would have had the courage to
conceal yourself forever from me? Ah, dear Henri, what have I done that
you should take this care of my life? By what fault have I deserved to
survive you, if you die? You have had the strength of mind to hoodwink me
for two whole years; you have never shown me aught of your life but its
flowers; you have never entered my solitude but with a joyous
countenance, and each time with a fresh favor. Ah, you must be very
guilty or very virtuous!"

"Do not seek in my soul more than therein lies. Yes, I have deceived you;
and that fact was the only peace and joy I had in the world. Forgive me
for having stolen these moments from my destiny, so brilliant, alas! I
was happy in the happiness you supposed me to enjoy; I made you happy in
that dream, and I am only guilty in that I am now about to destroy it,
and to show myself as I was and am. Listen: I shall not detain you long;
the story of an impassioned heart is ever simple. Once before, I
remember, in my tent when I was wounded, my secret nearly escaped me; it
would have been happy, perhaps, had it done so. Yet what would counsel
have availed me? I should not have followed it. In a word, 'tis Marie de
Mantua whom I love."

"How! she who is to be Queen of Poland?"

"If she is ever queen, it can only be after my death. But listen: for her
I became a courtier; for her I have almost reigned in France; for her I
am about to fall--perhaps to die."

"Die! fall! when I have been reproaching your triumph! when I have wept
over the sadness of your victory!"

"Ah! you know me but ill, if you suppose that I shall be the dupe of
Fortune, when she smiles upon me; if you suppose that I have not pierced
to the bottom of my destiny! I struggle against it, but 'tis the stronger
I feel it. I have undertaken a task beyond human power; and I shall fail
in it."

"Why, then, not stop? What is the use of intellect in the business of the
world?"

"None; unless, indeed, it be to tell us the cause of our fall, and to
enable us to foresee the day on which we shall fall. I can not now
recede. When a man is confronted with such an enemy as Richeli