" His lack of surprise alarmed her.
"I am well aware of that," he said. "You are the duchess."
Something in his tone warned her of a crisis, and she put forth
her cunning to avert it. "And. you-you will not love me less?"
her voice vibrant as the string of a viol. "I am a princess, but
yet a woman. In me there are two, the woman and the princess.
The princess is proud and ambitious; to gain her ends she stops
at nothing. As a princess she may stoop to trickery and deceit,
and step back untouched. But the woman-ah, well; for this
fortnight I have been most of all the woman."
"And all this to me-is a preamble to my dismissal, since my
promise remains unfulfilled? Madame, do not think that because
fate has willed that my promise should become void, that my
conscience acquits me of dishonor. For love of you I have thrown
honor to the winds. But do I regret it? No. For I am mad, and
being mad, I am not capable of reason. I have broken all those
ties which bind a man's respect to himself. I have burned all
bridges, but I laugh at that. It is only with the knowledge that
your love is mine that I can hold high my head.
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