“You!” she cried, with rising energy.  “You, the brave soldier, the spotless man, the very soul of honour made flesh and blood!  You, who have but just come back in triumph from fighting your King’s enemies—­you against whom no living being has ever dared to breathe a slander or a slighting word.  Oh, no, no, no, no!  I could not bear that you should betray your faith and your country and yourself, and be called traitor for my sake!  Not for ten lives of mine shall you ruin yours.  And not because I might love you less if you had done that deed.  God help me!  I think I should love you if you committed any crime!  The shame is the more to me—­I know it.  I am only a woman!  But rather than let my love ruin you, make a traitor of you and lose you in this world and the next, my soul shall go first—­life, soul, honour, everything!  You shall not do it!  You think that you love me more than I love you, but you do not.  For to save you as you are, I love you so dearly that I will leave you—­leave you to honour, leave you to your King, leave you to the undying glory of the life you have lived, and will live, in memory of my love!”

The splendid words rang from her lips like a voice from heaven, and her eyes were divinely lightened.  For they looked up, and not at him, calling Heaven to witness that she would keep her promise.  As her open hand unconsciously went out, he took it tenderly, and felt her fingers softly closing on his own, as if she would lift him to himself again, and to the dear light of her own thoughts.  There was silence for a moment.

“You are better and wiser than I,” he said, and his tone told her that the madness was past.

“And you know that I am right?  You see that I must leave you, to save you from me?”

“Leave me—­now?” he cried.  “You only said that—­you meant me to understand—­you did not mean that you would leave me now?”

“I do mean it,” she said, in a great effort.  “It is all I can do, to show you how I love you.  As long as I am in your life you will be in danger—­you will never be safe from yourself—­I see it all now!  I stand between you and all the world would give you—­I will not stand between you and honour!”

She was breaking down, fight as she would against the pain.  He could say nothing, for he could not believe that she really was in earnest.

“I must!” she exclaimed suddenly.  “It is all I can do for you—­it is my life—­take it!”

The tears broke from her eyes, but she held her head high, and let them fall unheeded.

“Take it!” she repeated.  “It is all I have to give for yours and your honour.  Good-by—­oh, love, I love you so dearly!  Once more, before I go—­”

She almost, fell into his arms as she buried her face on his shoulder and clasped his throat as she was wont.  He kissed her hair gently, and from time to time her whole frame shook with the sobs she was choking down.

“It kills me,” she said in a broken voice.  “I cannot—­I thought I was so strong!  Oh, I am the most miserable living woman in the world!”