By this time it is common property.'
I looked at her as she stood facing me. Her eyes shone under the
lashes that almost hid them. Her figure drooped, and yet a smile
trembled on her lips.
'What did you tell him, Mademoiselle?' I whispered, my breath
coming quickly.
'That I loved,' she answered boldly, raising her clear eyes to
mine. 'And therefore that I was not ashamed to beg--even on my
knees.'
I fell on mine, and caught her hand before the last word passed
her lips. For the moment I forgot King and Cardinal, prison and
the future, all; all except that this woman, so pure and so
beautiful, so far above me in all things, loved me. For the
moment, I say. Then I remembered myself. I stood up, and stood
back from her in a sudden revulsion of feeling.
'You do not know me!' I cried, 'You do not know what I have
done!'
'That is what I do know,' she answered, looking at me with a
wondrous smile.
'Ah! but you do not!' I cried. 'And besides, there is this
--this between us.' And I picked up the Cardinal's letter. It
had fallen on the floor. She turned a shade paler.
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