"If love were the only thing, I
would follow you--in rags, if need be--to the world's end; for you hold
my heart in the hollow of your hand! But is love the only thing?"
I made no answer. It gives me shame now to think that I would not help
her.
She came near me and laid her hand on my shoulder. I put my hand up and
held hers.
"I know people write and talk as if it were. Perhaps, for some, Fate
lets it be. Ah, if I were one of them! But if love had been the only
thing, you would have let the King die in his cell."
I kissed her hand.
"Honour binds a woman too, Rudolf. My honour lies in being true to my
country and my House. I don't know why God has let me love you; but I
know that I must stay."
Still I said nothing; and she, pausing a while, then went on:
"Your ring will always be on my finger, your heart in my heart, the
touch of your lips on mine. But you must go and I must stay. Perhaps I
must do what it kills me to think of doing."
I knew what she meant, and a shiver ran through me. But I could not
utterly fail her. I rose and took her hand.
"Do what you will, or what you must," I said. "I think God shows His
purposes to such as you. My part is lighter; for your ring shall be on
my finger and your heart in mine, and no touch save of your lips will
ever be on mine.
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