I laughed. "Your lord chooses, then, that you take a seat. It seems
(I take your word for it) that there must be hard thoughts between
us. Well, a straight quarrel is soonest ended, they say: let us have
them out and get them over."

"Ah, you hurt! Is it necessary that you hurt so?" Her eyes no less
than her voice sobered me at once, shuddering together as though my
laugh had driven home a sword and it grated on the bone.
I remembered that she always winced at laughter, but this evident
anguish puzzled me.

"God knows," said I, "how I am hurting you. But pardon me.
Speak what you have to speak; and I will be patient while I learn."

"'A lifetime of dishonour,' you said, and yet you laugh . . .
A lifetime of dishonour, and you were blithe to be shot and escape
it; yet now you laugh. Ah, I cannot understand!"

"Princess!" I protested, although not even now did I grasp what
meaning she had misread into my words.

"But you said rightly. It is a lifetime of dishonour you have
suffered them to put on you: and I--I have taken more than life from
you, cavalier--yet I cannot grieve for you while you laugh.
O sir, do not take from me my last help, which is to honour you!"

"Listen to me, Princess," said I, stepping close and standing over
her. "What do you suppose that I meant by using those words?
They were your own words, remember."

"That is better. It will help us both if we are frank--only do not
treat me as a child. You heard what my brother said. Yes, and
doubtless you have heard other things to my shame? Answer me."

"If your brother chose to utter slanders--"

"Yes, yes; it was easy to catch him by the throat. That is how one
man treats another who calls a woman vile in her presence. It does
not mean that he disbelieves, and therefore it is worthless; but a
gallant man will act so, almost without a second thought, and because
it is _dans les formes_." She paused. "I learned that phrase in
Brussels, cavalier."

I made no answer.

"In Brussels, cavalier," she repeated, "where it was often in the
mouths of very vile persons. You have heard, perhaps, that we--that
my brother and I--lived our childhood in Brussels?"

I bent my head, without answering; but still she persisted.

"I was brought to Corsica from Brussels, cavalier. Marc'antonio and
Stephanu fetched us thence, being guided by that priest who is now my
brother's confessor."

"I have been told so, Princess. Marc'antonio told