“We passed people, but no one knew me.  I will go if you are distressed over my being here.”

“It is not that—­not that.  Some spy may have seen you.  I have a strange fear that they suspect me and that I am being watched.  Where is Captain Quinnox?”

“He said he would return for me in an hour.  The time is almost gone.  How it has flown!  Yetive, Yetive, I will not give you up!” he cried, sinking to his knees before her.

“You must—­you shall!  You must go back to the monastery to-night!  Oh how I pray that you may reach it in safety!  And, you must leave this wretched country at once.  Will you see if Quinnox is outside the door?  Be quick!  I am mad with the fear that you may be found here—­that you may be taken before you can return to St. Valentine’s.”

He arose and stood looking down at the intense face, all aquiver with the battle between temptation and solicitude.

“I am not going back to St. Valentine’s,” he said, slowly.

“But it is all arranged for you to start from there tomorrow.  You cannot escape the city guard except through St. Valentine’s.”

“Yetive, has it not occurred to you that I may not wish to escape the city guard?”

“May not wish to escape the—­what do you mean?” she cried, bewildered.

“I am not going to leave Edelweiss, dearest.  It is my intention to surrender myself to the authorities.”

She gazed at him in horror for a moment and then fell back with a low moan.

“For God’s sake, do not say that!” she wailed.  “I forbid you to think of it.  You cannot do this after all I have done to save you.  Ach, you are jesting; I should have known.”

He sat down and drew her to his side.  Some moments passed before he could speak.

“I cannot and will not permit you to make such a sacrifice for me.  The proposition of Bolaroz is known to me.  If you produce me for trial you are to have a ten years’ extension.  My duty is plain.  I am no cowardly criminal, and I am not afraid to face my accusers.  At the worst, I can die but once.”

“Die but once,” she repeated, as if in a dream.

“I came here to tell you of my decision, to ask you to save your lands, protect your people, and to remember that I would die a thousand times to serve you and yours.”

“After all I have done—­after all I have done,” she murmured, piteously.  “No, no!  You shall not!  You are more to me than all my kingdom, than all the people in the world.  You have made me love you, you have caused me to detest the throne which separates us, you have made me pray that I might be a pauper, but you shall not force me to destroy the mite of hope that lingers in my heart.  You shall not crush the hope that there may be a—­a—­some day!”

“A some day?  Some day when you will be mine?” he cried.

“I will not say that, but, for my sake,—­for my sake,—­go away from this place.  Save yourself!  You are all I have to live for.”  Her arms were about his neck and her imploring words went to his heart like great thrusts of pain.