"What you are to me only my own heart can tell; but I would never
set eyes upon your face again rather than abate by one inch that
height of honor and worshipful achievement to which you may
attain."
"Nay, my dear and most sweet lady, how should you abate it, since
it is the thought of you which will nerve my arm and uphold my
heart?"
"Think once more, my fair lord, and hold yourself bound by no word
which you have said. Let it be as the breeze which blows past our
faces and is heard of no more. Your soul yearns for honor. To
that has it ever turned. Is there room in it for love also? or is
it possible that both shall live at their highest in one mind? Do
you not call to mind that Galahad and other great knights of old
have put women out of their lives that they might ever give their
whole soul and strength to the winning of honor? May it not be
that I shall be a drag upon you, that your heart may shrink from
some honorable task, lest it should bring risk and pain to me?
Think well before you answer, my fair lord, for indeed my very
heart would break if it should ever happen that through love of me
your high hopes and great promise should miss fulfilment."
Nigel looked at her with sparkling eyes. The soul which shone
through her dark face had transformed it for the moment into a
beauty more lofty and more rare than that of her shallow sister.
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