Sanpeur said almost sternly, “Gwendolaine,
Unsay that; it is false!  You know full well
How far I love you above thought of self;
If I half loved you, I would fold you close.”

“It is unsaid, Sanpeur; but woe is me
That I should fall so far from my estate
To plead in vain with any man, howe’er
He love; where is my pride, my boasted pride?”

“’Tis in my heart, if anywhere, my love.”

“I can not go, Sanpeur.  Torm forfeited
His right to loyalty by cruelty.”

“The debt of loyalty is due to self,
And we must well fulfil it, Gwendolaine,
No matter how another may have failed.”

A sudden horror crossed her thought,—­“Sanpeur;
You do not love me less that I have come?”

“Ah! my beloved woman-child, I know
Your many-sided nature far too well
To judge you or condemn you by one act,
Born of a frenzied moment of despair;
When the true Gwendolaine has time to think,
Naught I could urge would keep her, though she came.”

“But Torm would kill me if I did return”—­

“Leave that to me; but if he should, my love,
Your soul would then be free,—­what ask you more? 
Now you are weary, very weary, sweet;
Go in the castle, let me call my dames
To tend and serve you until morning light;
And on the morrow you will choose to go
With me, I am full sure, and make your peace
With Torm, as worthy of your better self.”

“With you?  O God!  Sanpeur, if I return,
I go alone as I have come!  Think you
That I would take you with me to your death?”

“My life is yours,—­how use it better, dear,
Than winning peace and happiness for you?”

“But it would be keen misery for life”—­

“It leadeth unto happiness and peace
In the far future, if we fail not now. 
This life is but the filling of a trust,
To prove us worthy of the life beyond,
And happiness is never to be sought. 
If it comes,—­well; if not, we shall know why. 
When we are happy in the sight of God.”

Then there was silence on the battlements;
No sound was heard but the slow measured clang
Of feet that paced the stony path below;—­
Gwendolaine pushed aside the wind-blown hair
From her wild eyes, and gazed into Sanpeur’s. 
As the slow minutes passed the frenzied mood
Faded away from her like fevered dream;
With hands clasped in a passion of devout,
Complete surrender, falling at his feet
She whispered, brokenly, between her sobs;

“Sanpeur, I will go back to Torm,—­for you,—­
Go back and live my life as best I may,
If he forgive me;—­and if not, receive
The condemnation of my fault as meet. 
Your love has done what love should ever do,—­
Illumined duty’s path, and its far goal,
Hid for a moment by a dark despair. 
I thought I loved you perfectly before,
But my soul tells me, deep below the pain,
I love you more than if you bade me stay.”