saidenough
,
more
than
enough
,
to
satisfy
the
one
who
had
lost
all
for
his
sake
,
had
there
but
been
once
in
his
voice
no
fear
,
but
only
love
.
As
it
was
,
that
which
he
still
thought
of
was
himself
alone
.
Whilst
crushed
with
the
weight
of
his
brother
's
surpassing
generosity
,
he
still
was
filled
with
only
one
thought
that
burned
through
the
darkness
of
his
bewildered
horror
,
and
that
thought
was
his
own
jeopardy
.
Even
in
the
very
first
hours
of
his
knowledge
that
the
man
whom
he
had
believed
dead
was
living
,
living
and
bearing
the
burden
of
the
guilt
he
should
have
borne
,
what
he
was
filled
with
was
the
imminence
of
his
own
peril
.
Cecil
stood
in
silence
looking
at
him
.
He
saw
the
boyish
loveliness
he
remembered
so
well
altered
into
the
stronger
and
fuller
beauty
of
the
man
.
He
saw
that
life
had
gone
softly
,
smoothly
,
joyously
,
with
this
weak
and
feminine
nature
;
and
that
,
in
the
absence
of
temptation
to
evil
,
its
career
had
been
fair
and
straight
in
the
sight
of
the
world
.
He
saw
that
his
brother
had
been
,
in
one
word
,
happy
.
He
saw
that
happiness
had
done
for
this
character
what
adversity
had
done
for
his
own
.
He
saw
that
by
it
had
been
saved
a
temperament
that
calamity
would
have
wrecked
.
He
stood
and
looked
at
him
,
but
he
spoke
not
one
word
;
whatever
he
felt
,
he
restrained
from
all
expression
.
The
younger
man
still
hid
his
face
upon
his
hands
,
as
if
,
even
in
those
pale
grey
moonbeams
,
he
shunned
the
light
that
was
about
him
.
"
We
believed
you
were
dead
,
"
he
murmured
,
wildly
.
"
They
said
so
;
there
seemed
every
proof
.
But
when
I
saw
you
yesterday
,
I
knew
you
—
I
knew
you
,
though
you
passed
me
as
a
stranger
.
I
stayed
on
here
;
they
told
me
you
would
return
.
God
!
what
agony
this
day
and
night
have
been
!
"
Cecil
was
silent
still
;
he
knew
that
this
agony
had
been
the
dread
lest
he
should
be
living
.
There
were
many
emotions
at
war
in
him
—
scorn
,
and
pity
,
and
wounded
love
,
and
pride
too
proud
to
sue
for
a
gratitude
denied
,
or
quote
a
sacrifice
that
was
almost
without
parallel
in
generosity
,
all
held
him
speechless
.
To
overwhelm
the
sinner
before
him
with
reproaches
,
to
count
and
claim
the
immeasurable
debts
due
to
him
,
to
upbraid
and
to
revile
the
wretched
weakness
that
had
left
the
soil
of
a
guilt
not
his
own
to
rest
upon
him
—
to
do
aught
of
this
was
not
in
him
.
Long
ago
he
had
accepted
the
weight
of
an
alien
crime
,
and
borne
it
as
his
own
;
to
undo
now
all
that
he
had
done
in
the
past
,
to
fling
out
to
ruin
now
the
one
whom
he
had
saved
at
such
a
cost
,
to
turn
,
after
twelve
years
,
and
forsake
the
man
,
all
coward
though
he
was
,
whom
he
had
shielded
for
so
long
—
this
was
not
possible
to
him
.
Though
it
would
be
but
his
own
birthright
that
he
would
demand
,
his
own
justification
that
he
would
establish
,
it
would
have
seemed
to
him
like
a
treacherous
and
craven
thing
.
No
matter
that
the
one
for
whom
the
sacrifice
had
been
made
was
unworthy
of
it
,
he
held
that
every
law
of
honour
and
of
justice
forbade
him
now
to
abandon
his
brother
,
and
yield
him
up
to
the
retribution
of
his
early
fault
.
It
might
have
been
a
folly
in
the
first
instance
,
it
might
even
have
been
a
madness
,
that
choice
of
standing
in
his
brother
's
place
to
receive
the
shame
of
his
brother
's
action
;
but
it
had
been
done
so
long
before
—
done
on
the
spur
of
generous
affection
,
and
actuated
by
the
strange
hazard
that
made
the
keeping
of
a
woman
's
secret
demand
the
same
reticence
which
also
saved
the
young
lad
's
name
;
to
draw
back
from
it
now
would
have
been
a
cowardice
impossible
to
his
nature
.
All
seemed
uttered
,
without
words
,
by
their
gaze
at
one
another
.
He
could
not
speak
with
tenderness
to
this
craven
who
had
been
false
to
the
fair
repute
of
their
name
:
—
and
he
would
not
speak
with
harshness
.
He
felt
too
sick
at
heart
,
too
weary
,
too
filled
with
pain
,
to
ask
aught
of
his
brother
's
life
;
it
had
been
saved
from
temptation
,
and
therefore
saved
from
evil
;
that
knowledge
sufficed
to
him
.
The
younger
man
stood
half
stupified
,
half
maddened
.
In
the
many
years
that
had
passed
by
,
although
his
character
had
not
changed
,
his
position
had
altered
greatly
;
and
in
the
last
few
months
he
had
enjoyed
all
the
power
that
wealth
and
independence
and
the
accession
to
his
title
could
bestow
.
He
felt
some
dull
,
hot
,
angered
sense
of
wrong
done
to
him
by
the
fact
that
the
rightful
heir
of
them
still
lived
;
some
chafing
,
ingrate
,
and
unreasoning
impatience
with
the
saviour
of
his
whole
existence
;
some
bitter
pangs
of
conscience
that
he
would
be
baser
yet
,
base
beyond
all
baseness
,
to
remain
in
his
elder
's
place
,
and
accept
this
sacrifice
still
,
whilst
knowing
now
the
truth
.
"
Bertie
—
Bertie
!
"
he
stammered
,
in
hurried
appeal
—
and
the
name
of
his
youth
touched
the
hearer
of
it
strangely
,
making
him
for
the
moment
forget
all
save
that
he
looked
once
more
upon
one
of
his
own
race
—
"
on
my
soul
,
I
never
doubted
that
the
story
of
your
death
was
true
.
No
one
did
.
All
the
world
believed
it
.
If
I
had
known
you
lived
,
I
would
have
said
that
you
were
innocent
;
I
would
—
I
would
have
told
them
how
I
forged
your
friend
's
name
and
your
own
when
I
was
so
desperate
that
I
scarce
knew
what
I
did
.
But
they
said
that
you
were
killed
,
and
I
thought
then
—
then
—
it
was
not
worth
while
;
it
would
have
broken
my
father
's
heart
.
God
help
me
!
I
was
a
coward
!
"
He
spoke
the
truth
;
he
was
a
coward
;
he
had
ever
been
one
.
Herein
lay
the
whole
story
of
his
fall
,
his
weakness
,
his
sin
,
and
his
ingratitude
.
Cecil
knew
that
never
will
gratitude
exist
where
craven
selfishness
holds
reign
;
yet
there
was
an
infinite
pity
mingled
with
the
scorn
that
moved
him
.
After
the
years
of
bitter
endurance
he
had
passed
,
the
heroic
endurance
he
had
witnessed
,
the
hard
and
unending
miseries
that
he
had
learned
to
take
as
his
daily
portion
,
this
feebleness
and
fear
roused
his
wondering
compassion
almost
as
a
woman
's
weakness
would
have
done
.
Still
he
never
answered
;
the
hatred
of
the
stain
that
had
been
brought
upon
their
name
by
his
brother
's
deed
(
stain
none
the
less
dark
,
in
his
sight
,
because
hidden
from
the
world
)
,
his
revulsion
from
this
man
,
who
was
the
only
creature
of
their
race
who
ever
had
turned
poltroon
,
the
thousand
remembrances
of
childhood
that
uprose
before
him
,
the
irresistible
yearning
for
some
word
from
the
other
's
lips
that
should
tell
of
some
lingering
trace
in
him
of
the
old
love
strong
enough
to
kill
,
for
the
moment
at
least
,
the
selfish
horror
of
personal
peril
—
all
these
kept
him
silent
.
His
brother
misinterpreted
that
silence
.
"
I
am
in
your
power
—
utterly
in
your
power
,
"
he
moaned
in
his
fear
.
"
I
stand
in
your
place
;
I
bear
your
title
;
you
know
that
our
father
and
our
brother
are
dead
?
All
that
I
have
inherited
is
yours
—
do
you
know
that
,
since
you
have
never
claimed
it
?
"
"
I
know
it
.
"
"
And
you
have
never
come
forward
to
take
your
rights
?
"
"
What
I
did
not
do
to
clear
my
own
honour
,
I
was
not
likely
to
do
merely
to
hold
a
title
.
"
The
meaning
of
his
answer
drifted
beyond
the
ear
on
which
his
words
fell
;
it
was
too
high
to
be
comprehended
by
the
lower
nature
.
The
man
who
lived
in
prosperity
and
peace
,
and
in
the
smile
of
the
world
,
and
the
purple
of
power
,
looked
bewildered
at
the
man
who
led
the
simple
,
necessitous
,
perilous
,
semi-barbaric
existence
of
an
Arab-Franco
soldier
.
"
But
—
great
Heaven
!
—
this
life
of
yours
?
It
must
be
wretchedness
?
"
"
Perhaps
.
It
has
at
least
no
disgrace
in
it
.
"
The
reply
had
the
only
sternness
of
contempt
that
he
had
suffered
himself
to
show
.
It
stung
down
to
his
listener
's
soul
.
"
No
—
no
!
"
he
murmured
.
"
You
are
happier
than
I
.
You
have
no
remorse
to
bear
!
And
yet
—
to
tell
the
world
that
I
am
guilty
!
—
—
"
"
You
need
never
tell
it
:
I
shall
not
.
"
He
spoke
quite
quietly
,
quite
patiently
.
Yet
he
well
knew
,
and
had
well
weighed
,
all
he
surrendered
in
that
promise
—
the
promise
to
condemn
himself
to
a
barren
and
hopeless
fate
for
ever
.
"
You
will
not
?
"
The
question
died
almost
inaudible
on
his
dry
,
parched
tongue
.
The
one
passion
of
fear
upon
him
was
for
himself
;
even
in
that
moment
of
supplication
his
disordered
thoughts
hovered
wildly
over
the
chances
of
whether
,
if
his
elder
brother
even
now
asserted
his
innocence
and
claimed
his
birthright
,
the
world
and
its
judges
would
ever
believe
him
.
Cecil
for
a
while
again
was
silent
,
standing
there
by
the
newly
made
grave
of
the
soldier
who
had
been
faithful
as
those
of
his
own
race
and
of
his
own
order
never
had
been
.
His
heart
was
full
.
The
ingratitude
and
the
self-absorption
of
this
life
for
which
his
own
had
been
destroyed
smote
him
with
a
fearful
suffering
.
And
only
a
few
hours
before
he
had
looked
once
more
on
the
face
of
the
beloved
friend
of
his
youth
;
—
a
deadlier
sacrifice
than
to
lay
down
wealth
,
and
name
,
and
heritage
,
and
the
world
's
love
,
was
to
live
on
leaving
that
one
comrade
of
his
early
days
to
believe
him
dead
after
a
deed
of
shame
.
His
brother
sank
down
on
the
mound
of
freshly
flung
earth
,
sinking
his
head
upon
his
arms
with
a
low
moan
.
Time
had
not
changed
him
greatly
;
it
had
merely
made
him
more
intensely
desirous
of
the
pleasures
and
the
powers
of
life
,
more
intensely
abhorrent
of
pain
,
of
censure
,
of
the
contempt
of
the
world
.
As
,
to
escape
these
in
his
boyhood
,
he
had
stooped
to
any
degradation
,
so
,
to
escape
them
in
his
manhood
,
he
was
capable
of
descending
to
any
falsehood
or
any
weakness
.
His
was
one
of
those
natures
which
,
having
no
love
of
evil
for
evil
's
sake
,
still
embrace
any
form
of
evil
which
may
save
them
from
the
penalty
of
their
own
weakness
.
Now
,
thus
meeting
one
whom
for
twelve
years
he
had
believed
must
rise
from
the
tomb
itself
to
reproach
or
to
accuse
him
,
unstrung
his
every
nerve
,
and
left
him
with
only
one
consciousness
—
the
desire
at
all
costs
to
be
saved
.
Cecil
's
eyes
rested
on
him
with
a
strange
melancholy
pity
:
he
had
loved
his
brother
as
a
youth
—
loved
him
well
enough
to
take
and
bear
a
heavy
burden
of
disgrace
in
his
stead
.
The
old
love
was
not
dead
;
but
stronger
than
itself
was
his
hatred
of
the
shame
that
had
touched
their
race
by
the
wretched
crime
that
had
driven
him
into
exile
,
and
his
wondering
scorn
for
the
feeble
and
self-engrossed
character
that
had
lived
contentedly
under
false
colours
,
and
with
a
hidden
blot
screened
by
a
fictitious
semblance
of
honour
.
He
could
not
linger
with
him
;
he
did
not
know
how
to
support
the
intolerable
pain
that
oppressed
him
in
the
presence
of
the
only
living
creature
of
his
race
;
he
could
not
answer
for
himself
what
passionate
and
withering
words
might
not
escape
him
;
every
instant
of
their
interview
was
a
horrible
temptation
to
him
—
the
temptation
to
demand
from
this
coward
his
own
justification
before
the
world
—
the
temptation
to
seize
out
of
these
unworthy
hands
his
birthright
and
his
due
.
But
the
temptation
,
sweet
,
insidious
,
intense
,
strengthened
by
the
strength
of
right
,
and
well-nigh
overwhelming
with
all
its
fair
delicious
promise
for
the
future
,
did
not
conquer
him
.
What
resisted
it
was
his
own
simple
instinct
of
justice
;
an
instinct
too
straight
and
true
either
to
yield
to
self-pity
or
to
passionate
desire
—
justice
which
made
him
feel
that
,
since
he
had
chosen
to
save
this
weakling
once
for
their
lost
mother
's
sake
,
he
was
bound
for
ever
not
to
repent
nor
to
retract
.
He
gazed
awhile
longer
,
silently
,
at
the
younger
man
,
who
sat
still
rocking
himself
wearily
to
and
fro
on
the
loose
earth
of
the
freshly
filled
grave
.
Then
he
went
and
laid
his
hand
on
his
brother
's
shoulder
:
the
other
started
and
trembled
;
he
remembered
that
touch
in
days
of
old
.
"
Do
not
fear
me
,
"
he
said
,
gently
and
very
gravely
.
"
I
have
kept
your
secret
twelve
years
;
I
will
keep
it
still
.
Be
happy
—
be
as
happy
as
you
can
.
All
I
bid
of
you
in
return
is
so
to
live
that
in
your
future
your
past
shall
be
redeemed
.
"
The
words
of
the
saint
to
the
thief
,
"
Je
vous
achète
votre
vie
,
"
were
not
more
merciful
,
not
more
noble
,
than
the
words
with
which
he
purchased
,
at
the
sacrifice
of
his
own
life
,
the
redemption
of
his
brother
's
.
The
other
looked
at
him
with
a
look
that
was
half
of
terror
—
terror
at
the
magnitude
of
this
ransom
that
was
given
to
save
him
from
the
bondage
of
evil
.
"
My
God
!
You
cannot
mean
it
!
And
you
—
—
?
"
"
I
shall
lead
the
life
fittest
for
me
:
I
am
content
in
it
.
It
is
enough
.
"
The
answer
was
very
calm
,
but
it
choked
him
in
its
utterance
.
Before
his
memory
rose
one
fair
,
proud
face
.
"
Content
!
"
Ah
,
Heaven
!
—
it
was
the
only
lie
that
had
ever
passed
his
lips
.
His
hand
lay
still
upon
his
brother
's
shoulder
,
leaning
more
heavily
there
,
in
the
silence
that
brooded
over
the
hushed
plains
.
"
Let
us
part
now
,
and
for
ever
.
Leave
Algeria
at
once
.
That
is
all
I
ask
.
"
Then
,
without
another
word
that
could
add
reproach
or
seek
for
gratitude
,
he
turned
and
went
away
over
the
great
dim
level
of
the
African
waste
,
whilst
the
man
whom
he
had
saved
sat
as
in
stupor
,
gazing
at
the
brown
shadows
,
and
the
sleeping
herds
,
and
the
falling
stars
that
ran
across
the
sky
,
and
doubting
whether
the
voice
he
had
heard
and
the
face
upon
which
he
had
looked
were
not
the
visions
of
a
waking
dream
.
CHAPTER
VII
.
"
VENETIA
.
"
How
that
night
was
spent
Cecil
could
never
recall
in
full
.
Vague
memories
remained
with
him
of
wandering
over
the
shadowy
country
,
of
seeking
by
bodily
fatigue
to
kill
the
thoughts
rising
in
him
,
of
drinking
at
a
little
water-channel
in
the
rocks
as
thirstily
as
some
driven
deer
,
of
flinging
himself
down
at
length
,
worn
out
,
to
sleep
under
the
hanging
brow
of
a
mighty
wall
of
rock
;
of
waking
when
the
dawn
was
reddening
the
east
with
the
brown
plains
around
him
,
and
far
away
under
a
knot
of
palms
was
a
goatherd
with
his
flock
like
an
idyl
from
the
old
pastoral
life
of
Syria
.
He
stood
looking
at
the
light
which
heralded
the
sun
,
with
some
indefinite
sense
of
heavy
loss
,
of
fresh
calamity
,
upon
him
.
It
was
only
slowly
that
he
remembered
all
.
Years
seemed
to
have
been
pressed
into
the
three
nights
and
days
since
he
had
sat
by
the
bivouac-fire
,
listening
to
the
fiery
words
of
the
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
.
The
full
consciousness
of
all
that
he
had
surrendered
in
yielding
up
afresh
his
heritage
rolled
in
on
his
memory
like
the
wave
of
some
heavy
sea
that
sweeps
down
all
before
it
.
When
that
tear-blotted
and
miserable
letter
had
reached
him
in
the
green
alleys
of
the
Stephanien
,
and
confessed
to
him
that
his
brother
had
relied
on
the
personal
likeness
between
them
and
the
similarity
of
their
handwriting
to
pass
off
as
his
the
bill
in
which
his
own
name
and
that
of
his
friend
was
forged
,
no
thought
had
crossed
him
to
take
upon
himself
the
lad
's
sin
.
It
had
only
been
when
,
brought
under
the
charge
,
he
must
,
to
clear
himself
,
have
at
once
accused
the
boy
,
and
have
betrayed
the
woman
whose
reputation
was
in
his
keeping
,
that
rather
by
generous
impulse
than
by
studied
intention
he
had
taken
up
the
burden
that
he
had
now
carried
for
so
long
.
Whether
or
no
the
money-lenders
had
been
themselves
in
reality
deceived
he
could
never
tell
;
but
it
had
been
certain
that
,
having
avowed
themselves
confident
of
his
guilt
,
they
could
never
shift
the
charge
on
to
his
brother
in
the
face
of
his
own
acceptance
of
it
.
So
he
had
saved
the
youth
without
premeditation
or
reckoning
of
the
cost
.
And
now
that
the
full
cost
was
known
to
him
,
he
had
not
shrunk
back
from
its
payment
.
Yet
that
payment
was
one
that
gave
him
a
greater
anguish
than
if
he
had
laid
down
his
life
in
physical
martyrdom
.
To
go
back
to
the
old
luxury
,
and
ease
,
and
careless
peace
,
to
go
back
to
the
old
fresh
fair
English
woodlands
,
to
go
back
to
the
power
of
command
and
the
delight
of
free
gifts
,
to
go
back
to
men
's
honour
,
and
reverence
,
and
high
esteem
—
these
would
have
been
sweet
enough
—
sweet
as
food
after
long
famine
.
But
far
more
than
these
would
it
have
been
to
go
back
and
take
the
hand
of
his
friend
once
more
in
the
old
unclouded
trust
of
their
youth
;
to
go
back
,
and
stand
free
and
blameless
amongst
his
peers
,
and
know
that
all
that
man
could
do
to
win
the
heart
and
the
soul
of
a
woman
he
could
at
his
will
do
to
win
hers
whose
mere
glance
of
careless
pity
had
sufficed
to
light
his
life
to
passion
.
And
he
had
renounced
all
this
.
This
was
the
cost
:
and
he
had
paid
it
—
paid
it
because
the
simple
,
natural
,
inflexible
law
of
justice
had
demanded
it
.
One
whom
he
had
once
chosen
to
save
he
could
not
now
have
deserted
,
except
by
what
would
have
been
,
in
his
sight
,
dishonour
.
Therefore
,
when
the
day
broke
,
and
the
memories
of
the
night
came
with
his
awakening
,
he
knew
that
his
future
was
without
hope
—
without
it
as
utterly
as
was
ever
that
of
any
captive
shut
in
darkness
,
and
silence
,
and
loneliness
,
in
a
prison
,
whose
only
issue
was
the
oubliettes
.
There
is
infinite
misery
in
the
world
,
but
this
one
misery
is
rare
;
or
men
would
perish
from
the
face
of
the
earth
as
though
the
sun
withdrew
its
light
.
Alone
in
that
dreary
scene
,
beautiful
from
its
vastness
and
its
solemnity
,
but
unutterably
melancholy
,
unutterably
oppressive
,
he
also
wondered
whether
he
lived
or
dreamed
.
From
amongst
the
reeds
the
plovers
were
rising
;
over
the
barren
rocks
the
dazzling
lizards
glided
;
afar
off
strayed
the
goats
:
that
was
the
only
sign
of
animal
existence
.
He
had
wandered
a
long
way
from
the
caravanserai
,
and
he
began
to
retrace
his
steps
,
for
his
horse
was
there
,
and
although
he
had
received
license
to
take
leisure
in
returning
,
he
had
no
home
but
the
camp
,
no
friends
but
those
wildeyed
,
leopard-like
,
ferocious
sons
of
the
razzia
and
the
slaughter
,
who
would
throng
around
him
like
a
pack
of
dogs
,
each
eager
for
the
first
glance
,
the
first
word
;
these
companions
of
his
adversity
and
of
his
perils
,
whom
he
had
learned
to
love
,
with
all
their
vices
and
all
their
crimes
,
for
sake
of
the
rough
,
courageous
love
that
they
could
give
in
answer
.
He
moved
slowly
back
over
the
desolate
tracks
of
land
stretched
between
him
and
the
Algerian
halting-place
.
He
had
no
fear
that
he
would
find
his
brother
there
.
He
knew
too
well
the
nature
with
which
he
had
to
deal
to
hope
that
old
affection
would
so
have
outweighed
present
fear
that
his
debtor
would
have
stayed
to
meet
him
yet
once
more
.
On
the
impulse
of
the
ungovernable
pain
which
the
other
's
presence
had
been
,
he
had
bidden
him
leave
Africa
at
once
;
now
he
almost
wished
that
he
had
bid
him
stay
.
There
was
a
weary
unsatisfied
longing
for
some
touch
of
love
or
of
gratitude
from
this
usurper
,
whom
he
had
raised
in
his
place
.
He
would
have
been
rewarded
enough
if
one
sign
of
gladness
that
he
lived
had
broken
through
the
egotism
and
the
stricken
fear
of
the
man
whom
he
remembered
as
a
little
golden-headed
child
,
with
the
hand
of
their
dying
mother
lying
in
benediction
on
the
fair
silken
curls
.
He
had
asked
no
questions
.
He
had
gone
back
to
no
recriminations
.
He
guessed
all
it
needed
him
to
know
;
and
he
recoiled
from
the
recital
of
the
existence
whose
happiness
was
purchased
by
his
own
misery
,
and
whose
dignity
was
built
on
sand
.
His
sacrifice
had
not
been
in
vain
.
Placed
out
of
the
reach
of
temptation
,
the
plastic
,
feminine
,
unstable
character
had
been
without
a
stain
in
the
sight
of
men
;
but
it
was
little
better
at
the
core
;
and
he
wondered
,
in
his
suffering
,
as
he
went
onward
through
the
beauty
of
the
young
day
,
whether
it
had
been
worth
the
bitter
price
he
had
paid
to
raise
this
bending
reed
from
out
the
waters
which
would
have
broken
and
swamped
it
at
the
outset
.
It
grew
fair
,
and
free
,
and
flower-crowned
now
,
in
the
midst
of
a
tranquil
and
sunlit
lake
;
but
was
it
of
more
value
than
a
drifted
weed
bearing
the
snake-egg
hidden
at
its
root
?
He
had
come
so
far
out
of
the
ordinary
route
across
the
plains
that
it
was
two
hours
or
more
before
he
saw
the
dark
grey
square
of
the
caravanserai
walls
,
and
to
its
felt
that
single
leaning
pine
growing
out
of
a
cleft
within
the
rock
that
overhung
the
spot
where
the
keenest
anguish
of
all
his
life
had
known
had
been
encountered
and
endured
—
the
spot
which
yet
,
for
sake
of
the
one
laid
to
rest
there
,
beneath
the
sombre
branches
,
would
be
for
ever
dearer
to
him
than
any
other
place
in
the
soil
of
Africa
.
Whilst
yet
the
caravanserai
was
distant
,
the
piteous
cries
of
a
mother-goat
caught
his
ear
;
she
was
bleating
beside
a
watercourse
,
into
which
her
kid
of
that
spring
had
fallen
,
and
whose
rapid
swell
,
filled
by
the
recent
storm
,
was
too
strong
for
the
young
creature
.
Absorbed
as
he
was
in
his
own
thoughts
,
the
cry
reached
him
and
drew
him
to
the
spot
;
it
was
not
in
him
willingly
to
let
any
living
thing
suffer
,
and
he
was
always
gentle
to
all
animals
.
He
stooped
and
,
with
some
little
difficulty
,
rescued
the
little
goat
for
its
delighted
dam
.
As
he
bent
over
the
water
,
he
saw
something
glitter
beneath
it
;
he
caught
it
in
his
hand
and
brought
it
up
;
it
was
the
broken
half
of
a
chain
of
gold
,
with
a
jewel
in
each
link
.
He
changed
colour
as
he
saw
it
;
he
remembered
it
as
one
that
Venetia
Corona
had
worn
on
the
morning
that
he
had
been
admitted
to
her
.
It
was
of
peculiar
workmanship
,
and
he
recognised
it
at
once
.
He
stood
with
the
toy
in
his
hand
,
looking
long
at
the
shining
links
,
with
their
flashes
of
precious
stones
.
They
seemed
to
have
voices
that
spoke
to
him
of
her
about
whose
beautiful
white
throat
they
had
been
woven
—
voices
that
whispered
incessantly
in
his
ear
,
"
Take
up
your
birthright
,
and
you
will
be
free
to
sue
to
her
at
least
,
if
not
to
win
her
.
"
No
golden
and
jewelled
plaything
ever
tempted
a
starving
man
to
theft
as
this
tempted
him
now
to
break
the
pledge
he
had
just
given
.
His
birthright
!
He
longed
for
it
for
this
woman
's
sake
—
for
the
sake
,
at
least
,
of
the
right
to
stand
before
her
as
an
equal
,
and
to
risk
his
chance
with
others
who
sought
her
smile
,
—
as
he
had
never
done
for
any
other
thing
which
,
with
that
heritage
,
would
have
become
his
.
Yet
he
knew
that
,
even
were
he
to
be
false
to
his
word
,
and
go
forward
and
claim
his
right
,
he
would
never
be
able
to
prove
his
innocence
;
he
could
never
hope
to
make
the
world
believe
him
unless
the
real
criminal
made
that
confession
which
he
held
himself
forbidden
,
by
his
own
past
action
,
ever
to
extort
.
He
gazed
long
at
the
broken
costly
toy
,
while
his
heart
ached
with
a
cruel
pang
;
then
he
placed
it
in
safety
in
the
little
blue
enamel
box
,
beside
the
ring
which
Cigarette
had
flung
back
to
him
,
and
went
onward
to
the
caravanserai
.
She
was
no
longer
there
,
in
all
probability
;
but
the
lost
bagatelle
would
give
him
,
some
time
or
another
,
a
plea
on
which
to
enter
her
presence
.
It
was
a
pleasure
to
him
to
know
that
;
—
though
he
knew
also
that
every
added
moment
spent
under
the
sweet
sovereignty
of
her
glance
was
so
much
added
pain
,
so
much
added
folly
,
to
the
dream-like
and
baseless
passion
with
which
she
had
inspired
him
.
The
trifling
incident
of
the
goat
's
rescue
and
the
chain
's
trouvaille
,
slight
as
they
were
,
still
were
of
service
to
him
.
They
called
him
back
from
the
past
to
the
present
;
they
broke
the
stupor
of
suffering
that
had
fastened
on
him
;
they
recalled
him
to
the
actual
world
about
him
in
which
he
had
to
fulfil
his
duties
as
a
trooper
of
France
.
It
was
almost
noon
when
,
under
the
sun-scorched
branches
of
the
pine
that
stretched
its
sombre
fans
up
against
the
glittering
azure
of
the
morning
skies
,
he
approached
the
gates
of
the
Algerine
house-of-call
—
a
study
for
the
colour
of
Gérôme
,
with
the
pearly
grey
of
its
stone
tints
,
and
the
pigeons
wheeling
above
its
corner
towers
,
while
under
the
arch
of
its
entrance
a
string
of
mules
,
maize-laden
,
were
guided
;
and
on
its
bench
sat
a
French
fantassin
,
singing
gaily
songs
of
Paris
whilst
he
cut
open
a
yellow
gourd
.
Cecil
went
within
,
and
bathed
,
and
dressed
,
and
drank
some
of
the
thin
cool
wine
that
found
its
way
hither
in
the
wake
of
the
French
army
.
Then
he
sat
down
for
a
while
at
one
of
the
square
cabin-like
holes
which
served
for
casements
in
the
tower
he
occupied
,
and
,
looking
out
into
the
court
,
tried
to
shape
his
thoughts
and
plan
his
course
.
As
a
soldier
he
had
no
freedom
,
no
will
of
his
own
,
save
for
this
extra
twelve
or
twenty-four
hours
which
they
had
allowed
him
for
leisure
in
his
return
journey
.
He
was
obliged
to
go
back
to
his
camp
,
and
there
,
he
knew
,
he
might
again
encounter
one
whose
tender
memories
would
be
as
quick
to
recognise
him
as
the
craven
dread
of
his
brother
had
been
.
He
had
always
feared
this
ordeal
,
although
the
arduous
service
in
which
his
chief
years
in
Africa
had
been
spent
,
and
the
remote
expeditions
on
which
he
had
always
been
employed
,
had
partially
removed
him
from
the
ever-present
danger
of
such
recognition
until
now
.
And
now
he
felt
that
if
once
the
brave
kind
eyes
of
his
old
friend
should
meet
his
own
,
concealment
would
be
no
longer
possible
,
yet
,
for
sake
of
that
promise
he
had
sworn
in
the
past
night
,
it
must
be
maintained
at
every
hazard
,
every
cost
.
Vacantly
he
sat
and
watched
the
play
of
the
sunshine
in
the
prismatic
water
of
the
court-yard
fountain
,
and
the
splashing
,
and
the
pluming
,
and
the
murmuring
of
the
doves
and
pigeons
on
its
edge
.
He
felt
meshed
in
a
net
from
which
there
was
no
escape
—
none
—
unless
,
on
his
homeward
passage
,
a
thrust
of
Arab
steel
should
give
him
liberty
.
The
trampling
of
horses
on
the
pavement
below
roused
his
attention
.
A
thrill
of
hope
went
through
him
that
his
brother
might
have
lingering
conscience
,
latent
love
enough
,
to
have
made
him
refuse
to
obey
the
bidding
to
leave
Africa
.
He
rose
and
leaned
out
.
Amidst
the
little
throng
of
riding-horses
,
grooms
,
and
attendants
who
made
an
open
way
through
the
polyglot
crowd
of
an
Algerian
caravansarai
at
noon
,
he
saw
the
one
dazzling
face
of
which
he
had
so
lately
dreamed
by
the
water-freshet
in
the
plains
.
It
was
but
a
moment
's
glance
,
for
she
had
already
dismounted
from
her
mare
,
and
was
passing
within
with
two
other
ladies
of
her
party
;
but
in
that
one
glance
he
knew
her
.
His
discovery
of
the
chain
gave
him
a
plea
to
seek
her
;
—
should
he
avail
himself
of
it
?
He
hesitated
awhile
;
it
would
be
safest
,
wisest
,
best
,
to
deliver
up
the
trinket
to
her
courier
,
and
pass
on
his
way
without
another
look
at
that
beauty
which
could
never
be
his
,
which
could
never
lighten
for
him
even
with
the
smile
that
a
woman
may
give
her
equal
or
her
friend
.
She
could
never
be
aught
to
him
save
one
more
memory
of
pain
,
save
one
remembrance
the
more
to
embitter
the
career
which
not
even
hope
would
ever
illumine
.
He
knew
that
it
was
only
madness
to
go
into
her
presence
,
and
feed
,
with
the
cadence
of
her
voice
,
the
gold
light
of
her
hair
,
the
grace
and
graciousness
of
her
every
movement
,
the
love
which
she
would
deem
such
intolerable
insult
,
that
,
did
he
ever
speak
it
,
she
would
order
her
people
to
drive
him
from
her
like
a
chidden
hound
.
He
knew
that
;
but
he
longed
to
indulge
the
madness
despite
it
,
and
he
did
so
.
He
went
down
into
the
court
below
,
and
found
her
suite
.
"
Tell
your
mistress
that
I
,
Louis
Victor
,
have
some
jewels
which
belong
to
her
,
and
ask
her
permission
to
restore
them
to
her
hands
,
"
he
said
to
one
of
her
equerries
.
"
Give
them
to
me
,
if
you
have
picked
them
up
,
"
said
the
man
,
putting
out
his
hand
for
them
.
Cecil
closed
his
own
upon
them
:
"
Go
and
do
as
I
bid
you
.
"
The
equerry
paused
,
doubtful
whether
or
no
to
resist
the
tone
and
the
words
.
A
Frenchman
's
respect
for
the
military
uniform
prevailed
;
he
went
within
.
In
the
best
chamber
of
the
caravanserai
,
Venetia
Corona
was
sitting
,
listless
in
the
heat
,
when
her
attendant
entered
.
The
grandes
dames
who
were
her
companions
in
their
tour
through
the
seat
of
war
,
were
gone
to
their
siesta
.
She
was
alone
,
with
a
scarlet
burnous
thrown
about
her
,
and
upon
her
all
the
languor
and
idleness
common
to
the
noontide
,
which
was
still
very
warm
,
though
,
in
the
autumn
,
the
nights
were
so
icily
cold
on
the
exposed
level
of
the
plains
.
She
was
lost
in
thought
,
moreover
.
She
had
heard
,
the
day
before
,
a
story
that
had
touched
her
—
of
a
soldier
who
had
been
slain
crossing
the
plains
,
and
had
been
brought
,
through
the
hurricane
and
the
sand-storm
,
at
every
risk
,
by
his
comrade
,
who
had
chosen
to
endure
all
peril
and
wretchedness
rather
than
leave
the
dead
body
to
the
vultures
and
the
kites
.
It
was
a
nameless
story
to
her
—
the
story
of
two
obscure
troopers
,
who
,
for
aught
she
knew
,
might
have
been
two
of
the
riotous
and
savage
brigands
that
were
common
in
the
Army
of
Africa
.
But
the
loyalty
and
the
love
shown
in
it
had
moved
her
;
and
to
the
woman
whose
life
had
been
cloudless
and
cradled
in
ease
from
her
birth
,
there
was
that
in
the
suffering
and
the
sacrifice
which
the
anecdote
suggested
,
that
had
at
once
the
fascination
of
the
unknown
,
and
the
pathos
of
a
life
so
far
removed
from
her
,
so
little
dreamed
of
by
her
,
that
all
its
coarser
cruelty
was
hidden
,
whilst
only
its
unutterable
sadness
and
courage
remained
before
her
sight
.
Had
she
,
could
she
,
ever
have
seen
it
in
its
realities
,
watched
and
read
and
understood
it
,
she
would
have
been
too
intensely
revolted
to
have
perceived
the
actual
latent
nobility
possible
in
such
an
existence
;
as
it
was
,
she
heard
but
of
it
in
such
words
as
alone
could
meet
the
ear
of
a
great
lady
,
she
gazed
at
it
only
in
pity
from
a
far
distant
height
,
and
its
terrible
tragedy
had
solemnity
and
beauty
for
her
.
When
her
servant
approached
her
now
with
Cecil
's
message
,
she
hesitated
some
few
moments
in
surprise
.
She
had
not
known
that
he
was
in
her
vicinity
;
the
story
she
had
heard
had
been
simply
of
two
unnamed
Chasseurs
d
'
Afrique
,
and
he
himself
might
have
fallen
on
the
field
weeks
before
,
for
aught
that
she
had
heard
of
him
.
Some
stray
rumours
of
his
defence
of
the
encampment
of
Zarâila
,
and
of
the
fine
prowess
shown
in
his
last
charge
,
alone
had
drifted
to
her
.
He
was
but
a
trooper
;
and
he
fought
in
Africa
.
The
world
had
no
concern
with
him
,
save
the
miniature
world
of
his
own
regiment
.
She
hesitated
some
moments
;
then
gave
the
required
permission
.
"
He
has
once
been
a
gentleman
:
it
would
be
cruel
to
wound
him
,
"
thought
the
imperial
beauty
,
who
would
have
refused
a
Prince
or
neglected
a
Duke
with
chill
indifference
,
but
who
was
too
generous
to
risk
the
semblance
of
humiliation
to
the
man
who
could
never
approach
her
save
upon
such
sufferance
as
was
in
itself
mortification
to
one
whose
pride
survived
his
fallen
fortunes
.
Moreover
,
the
interest
he
had
succeeded
in
awakening
in
her
,
the
mingling
of
pity
and
of
respect
that
his
words
and
his
bearing
had
aroused
,
was
not
extinct
;
had
,
indeed
,
only
been
strengthened
by
the
vague
stories
that
had
of
late
floated
to
her
of
the
day
of
Zarâila
;
of
the
day
of
smoke
and
steel
and
carnage
,
of
war
in
its
grandest
yet
its
most
frightful
shape
,
of
the
darkness
of
death
which
the
courage
of
human
souls
had
power
to
illumine
as
the
rays
of
the
sun
the
tempest-cloud
.
Something
more
like
quickened
and
pleasured
expectation
than
any
one
amongst
her
many
lovers
had
ever
had
power
to
rouse
,
moved
her
as
she
heard
of
the
presence
of
the
man
who
,
in
that
day
,
had
saved
the
honour
of
his
Flag
.
She
came
of
an
heroic
race
;
she
had
heroic
blood
in
her
;
and
heroism
,
physical
and
moral
,
won
her
regard
as
no
other
quality
could
ever
do
.
A
man
capable
of
daring
greatly
,
and
of
suffering
silently
,
was
the
only
man
who
could
ever
hope
to
hold
her
thoughts
.
The
room
was
darkened
from
the
piercing
light
without
;
and
in
its
gloom
,
as
he
was
ushered
in
,
the
scarlet
of
her
cashmere
and
the
gleam
of
her
fair
hair
was
all
that
,
for
the
moment
,
he
could
see
.
He
bowed
very
low
that
he
might
get
his
calmness
back
before
he
looked
at
her
;
and
her
voice
in
its
lingering
music
came
on
his
ear
.
"
You
have
found
my
chain
,
I
think
?
I
lost
it
in
riding
yesterday
.
I
am
greatly
indebted
to
you
for
taking
care
of
it
.
"
She
felt
that
she
could
only
thank
,
as
she
would
have
thanked
an
equal
who
should
have
done
her
this
sort
of
slight
service
,
the
man
who
had
brought
to
her
the
gold
pieces
with
which
his
Colonel
had
insulted
him
.
"
It
is
I
,
Madame
,
who
am
the
debtor
of
so
happy
an
accident
.
"
His
words
were
very
low
,
and
his
voice
shook
a
little
over
them
;
he
was
thinking
not
of
the
jewelled
toy
that
he
came
here
to
restore
,
but
of
the
inheritance
that
had
passed
away
from
him
for
ever
,
and
which
,
possessed
,
would
have
given
him
the
title
to
seek
what
his
own
efforts
could
do
to
wake
a
look
of
tenderness
in
those
proud
eyes
which
men
ever
called
so
cold
,
but
which
he
felt
might
still
soften
,
and
change
,
and
grow
dark
with
the
thoughts
and
the
passions
of
love
,
if
the
soul
that
gazed
through
them
were
but
once
stirred
from
its
repose
.
"
Your
chain
is
here
,
Madame
,
though
broken
,
I
regret
to
see
,
"
he
continued
,
as
he
took
the
little
box
from
his
coat
and
handed
it
to
her
.
She
took
it
,
and
thanked
him
,
without
,
for
the
moment
,
opening
the
enamel
case
as
she
motioned
him
to
a
seat
at
a
little
distance
from
her
own
.
"
You
have
been
in
terrible
scenes
since
I
saw
you
last
,
"
she
continued
.
"
The
story
of
Zarâila
reached
us
.
Surely
they
cannot
refuse
you
the
reward
of
your
service
now
?
"
"
It
will
make
little
difference
,
Madame
,
whether
they
do
or
not
.
"
"
Little
difference
!
How
is
that
?
"
"
To
my
own
fate
,
I
meant
.
Whether
I
be
a
Captain
or
a
Corporal
cannot
alter
—
—
"
He
paused
;
he
dreaded
lest
the
words
should
escape
him
which
should
reveal
to
her
that
which
she
would
regard
as
such
intolerable
offence
,
such
insolent
indignity
,
when
felt
for
her
by
a
soldier
in
the
grade
he
held
.
"
No
?
Yet
such
recognition
is
usually
the
ambition
of
every
military
life
.
"
A
very
weary
smile
passed
over
his
face
.
"
I
have
no
ambition
,
Madame
.
Or
,
if
I
have
,
it
is
not
a
pair
of
epaulettes
that
will
content
it
.
"
She
understood
him
;
she
comprehended
the
bitter
mockery
that
the
tawdry
,
meretricious
rewards
of
regimental
decoration
seemed
to
the
man
who
had
waited
to
die
at
Zarâila
as
patiently
and
as
grandly
as
the
Old
Guard
at
Waterloo
.
"
I
understand
!
The
rewards
are
pitifully
disproportionate
to
the
services
in
any
army
.
Yet
how
magnificently
you
and
your
men
,
as
I
have
been
told
,
held
your
ground
all
through
that
fearful
day
!
"
"
We
did
our
duty
—
nothing
more
.
"
"
Well
!
is
not
that
the
rarest
thing
amongst
men
?
"
"
Not
amongst
soldiers
,
Madame
.
"
"
Then
you
think
that
every
trooper
in
a
regiment
is
actuated
by
the
finest
and
most
impersonal
sentiment
that
can
actuate
human
beings
!
"
"
I
will
not
say
that
.
Poor
wretches
!
they
are
degraded
enough
,
too
often
.
But
I
believe
that
more
or
less
in
every
good
soldier
,
even
when
he
is
utterly
unconscious
of
it
,
is
an
impersonal
love
for
the
honour
of
his
Flag
,
an
uncalculating
instinct
to
do
his
best
for
the
reputation
of
his
corps
.
We
are
called
human
machines
;
we
are
so
,
since
we
move
by
no
will
of
our
own
;
but
the
lowest
among
us
will
at
times
be
propelled
by
one
single
impulse
—
a
desire
to
die
greatly
.
It
is
all
that
is
left
to
most
of
us
to
do
.
"
She
looked
at
him
with
that
old
look
which
he
had
seen
once
or
twice
before
in
her
,
of
pity
,
respect
,
sympathy
,
and
wonder
,
all
in
one
.
He
spoke
to
her
as
he
had
never
spoken
to
any
living
being
.
The
grave
,
quiet
,
listless
impassiveness
that
still
was
habitual
with
him
—
relic
of
the
old
habits
of
his
former
life
—
was
very
rarely
broken
,
for
his
real
nature
or
his
real
thoughts
to
be
seen
beneath
it
.
But
she
,
so
far
removed
from
him
by
position
and
by
circumstance
,
and
distant
with
him
as
a
great
lady
could
not
but
be
with
a
soldier
of
whose
antecedents
and
whose
character
she
knew
nothing
,
gave
him
sympathy
,
a
sympathy
that
was
sweet
and
rather
felt
than
uttered
;
and
it
was
like
balm
to
a
wound
,
like
sweet
melodies
on
a
weary
ear
,
to
the
man
who
had
carried
his
secret
so
silently
and
so
long
,
without
one
to
know
his
burden
or
to
soothe
his
pain
.
"
Yes
,
"
she
said
,
thoughtfully
,
while
over
the
brilliancy
of
her
face
there
passed
a
shadow
.
"
There
must
be
infinite
nobility
amongst
these
men
,
who
live
without
hope
—
live
only
to
die
.
That
soldier
,
a
day
or
two
ago
,
who
brought
his
dead
comrade
through
the
hurricane
,
risking
his
own
death
rather
than
leave
the
body
to
the
carrion-birds
;
—
you
have
heard
of
him
?
What
tenderness
,
what
greatness
,
there
must
have
been
in
that
poor
fellow
's
heart
.
"
"
Oh
no.
That
was
nothing
.
"
"
Nothing
!
They
have
told
me
he
came
every
inch
of
the
way
in
danger
of
the
Arabs
'
shot
and
steel
.
He
had
suffered
so
much
to
bring
the
body
safe
across
the
plains
;
he
fell
down
insensible
on
his
entrance
here
.
"
"
You
set
too
much
store
on
it
.
I
owed
him
a
debt
far
greater
than
any
act
like
that
could
ever
repay
.
"
"
You
!
Was
it
you
?
"
"
Yes
,
Madame
.
He
who
perished
had
a
thousand-fold
more
of
such
nobility
as
you
have
praised
than
I
.
"
"
Ah
?
Tell
me
of
him
,
"
she
said
,
simply
;
but
he
saw
that
the
lustrous
eyes
bent
on
him
had
a
grave
sweet
sadness
in
them
,
that
was
more
precious
and
more
pitiful
than
a
million
utterances
of
regret
could
ever
have
been
.
Those
belied
her
much
,
who
said
that
she
was
heartless
;
though
grief
had
never
touched
her
,
she
could
feel
keenly
the
grief
of
other
lives
.
He
obeyed
her
bidding
now
,
and
told
her
,
in
brief
words
,
the
story
,
which
had
a
profound
pathos
spoken
there
,
where
without
through
the
oval
unglazed
casement
in
the
distance
there
was
seen
the
tall
dark
leaning
pine
that
overhung
the
grave
of
yesternight
;
—
the
story
,
over
which
his
voice
oftentimes
fell
with
the
hush
of
a
cruel
pain
in
it
,
and
which
he
could
have
related
to
no
other
save
herself
.
It
had
an
intense
melancholy
and
a
strange
beauty
in
its
brevity
and
its
simplicity
,
told
in
that
gaunt
,
still
,
darkened
chamber
of
the
caravanserai
,
with
the
grey
gloom
of
its
stone
walls
around
,
and
the
rays
of
the
golden
sunlight
from
without
straying
in
to
touch
the
glistening
hair
of
the
proud
head
that
bent
forward
to
listen
to
the
recital
.
Her
face
grew
paler
as
she
heard
;
and
a
mist
was
over
the
radiance
of
her
azure
eyes
:
that
death
in
the
loneliness
of
the
plains
moved
her
deeply
with
the
grand
simplicity
of
its
unconscious
heroism
.
And
,
though
he
spoke
little
of
himself
,
she
felt
,
with
all
the
divination
of
a
woman
's
sympathies
,
how
he
who
told
her
this
thing
had
suffered
by
it
—
suffered
far
more
than
the
comrade
whom
he
had
laid
down
in
the
grave
where
,
far
off
in
the
noonday
warmth
,
the
young
goats
were
at
rest
on
the
sod
.
When
he
ceased
,
there
was
a
long
silence
;
he
had
lost
even
the
memory
of
her
in
the
memory
of
the
death
that
he
had
painted
to
her
;
and
she
was
moved
with
that
wondering
pain
,
that
emotion
,
half
dread
and
half
regret
,
with
which
the
contemplation
of
calamities
that
have
never
touched
and
that
can
never
touch
them
will
move
women
far
more
callous
,
far
more
world-chilled
,
than
herself
.
In
the
silence
her
hands
toyed
listlessly
with
the
enamel
bonbonnière
,
whose
silver
had
lost
all
its
bright
enamelling
,
and
was
dinted
and
dulled
till
it
looked
no
more
than
lead
.
The
lid
came
off
at
her
touch
as
she
musingly
moved
it
round
and
round
;
the
chain
and
the
ring
fell
into
her
lap
;
the
lid
remained
in
her
hand
,
its
interior
unspoiled
and
studded
in
its
centre
with
one
name
in
turquoise
letters
—
Venetia
.
She
started
as
the
word
caught
her
eye
and
broke
her
reverie
;
the
colour
came
warmer
into
her
cheek
;
she
looked
closer
and
closer
at
the
box
,
then
with
a
rapid
movement
turned
her
head
and
gazed
at
her
companion
.
"
How
did
you
obtain
this
?
"
"
The
chain
,
Madame
?
It
had
fallen
in
the
water
.
"
"
The
chain
!
No
!
the
box
!
"
He
looked
at
her
in
surprise
.
"
It
was
given
me
very
long
ago
.
"
"
And
by
whom
?
"
"
By
a
young
child
,
Madame
.
"
Her
lips
parted
slightly
,
the
flush
on
her
cheeks
deepened
;
the
beautiful
face
,
which
the
Roman
sculptor
had
said
only
wanted
tenderness
to
make
it
perfect
,
changed
,
moved
,
was
quickened
with
a
thousand
shadows
of
thought
.
"
The
box
is
mine
!
I
gave
it
!
And
you
?
"
He
rose
to
his
feet
and
stood
entranced
before
her
,
breathless
and
mute
.
"
And
you
?
"
she
repeated
.
He
was
silent
still
;
gazing
at
her
.
He
knew
her
now
—
how
had
he
been
so
blind
as
never
to
guess
the
truth
before
,
as
never
to
know
that
those
imperial
eyes
and
that
diadem
of
golden
hair
could
belong
alone
but
to
the
women
of
one
race
?
"
And
you
?
"
she
cried
once
more
,
while
she
stretched
her
hand
out
to
him
.
"
And
you
—
you
are
Philip
's
friend
?
you
are
Bertie
Cecil
?
"
Silently
he
bowed
his
head
:
not
even
for
his
brother
's
sake
,
or
for
sake
of
his
pledged
word
,
could
he
have
lied
to
her
.
But
her
outstretched
hands
he
would
not
see
;
he
would
not
take
.
The
shadow
of
an
imputed
crime
was
stretched
between
them
.
"
Petite
Reine
!
"
he
murmured
!
"
Ah
,
God
!
how
could
I
be
so
blind
?
"
She
grew
very
pale
as
she
sank
back
again
upon
the
couch
from
which
she
had
risen
.
It
seemed
to
her
as
though
a
thousand
years
had
drifted
by
since
she
had
stood
beside
this
man
under
the
summer
leaves
of
the
Stephanien
,
and
he
had
kissed
her
childish
lips
,
and
thanked
her
for
her
loving
gift
.
And
now
—
they
had
met
thus
!
He
said
nothing
.
He
stood
paralysed
,
gazing
at
her
.
There
had
been
no
added
bitterness
needed
in
the
cup
which
he
drank
for
his
brother
's
sake
,
yet
this
bitterness
surpassed
all
other
:
it
seemed
beyond
his
strength
to
leave
her
in
the
belief
that
he
was
guilty
.
She
in
whom
all
fair
and
gracious
things
were
met
,
she
who
was
linked
by
her
race
to
his
past
and
his
youth
;
she
whose
clear
eyes
in
her
childhood
had
looked
upon
him
in
that
first
hour
of
the
agony
that
he
had
suffered
then
,
and
still
suffered
on
,
in
the
cause
of
a
coward
and
an
ingrate
.
She
was
pale
still
;
and
her
eyes
were
fixed
on
him
with
a
gaze
that
recalled
to
him
the
look
with
which
"
Petite
Reine
"
had
promised
that
summer
day
to
keep
his
secret
,
and
tell
none
of
that
misery
of
which
she
had
been
witness
.
"
They
thought
that
you
were
dead
,
"
she
said
at
length
,
whilst
her
voice
sank
very
low
.
"
Why
have
you
lived
like
this
?
"
He
made
no
answer
.
"
It
was
cruel
to
Philip
,
"
she
went
on
,
whilst
her
voice
still
shook
.
"
Child
though
I
was
,
I
remember
his
passion
of
grief
when
the
news
came
that
you
had
lost
your
life
.
He
has
never
forgotten
you
.
So
often
now
he
will
still
speak
of
you
!
He
is
in
your
camp
.
We
are
travelling
together
.
He
will
be
here
this
evening
.
What
delight
it
will
give
him
to
know
his
dearest
friend
is
living
!
But
why
—
why
—
have
kept
him
ignorant
,
if
you
were
lost
to
all
the
world
beside
?
"
Still
he
answered
her
nothing
.
The
truth
he
could
not
tell
;
the
lie
he
would
not
.
She
paused
,
waiting
reply
.
Receiving
none
,
she
spoke
once
more
,
her
words
full
of
that
exquisite
softness
which
was
far
more
beautiful
in
her
than
in
women
less
tranquil
,
less
chill
,
and
less
negligent
in
ordinary
moments
.
"
Mr.
Cecil
,
I
divined
rightly
!
I
knew
that
you
were
far
higher
than
your
grade
in
Africa
;
I
felt
that
in
all
things
,
save
in
some
accident
of
position
,
we
were
equals
.
But
why
have
you
condemned
yourself
to
this
misery
?
Your
life
is
brave
,
is
noble
,
but
it
must
be
a
constant
torture
to
such
as
you
?
I
remember
well
what
you
were
—
so
well
,
that
I
wonder
we
have
never
recognised
each
other
before
now
.
The
existence
you
lead
in
Algeria
must
be
very
terrible
to
you
,
though
it
is
greater
,
in
truth
,
than
your
old
years
of
indolence
?
"
He
sank
down
beside
her
on
a
low
seat
,
and
bowed
his
head
on
his
hands
for
some
moments
.
He
knew
that
he
must
leave
this
woman
whom
he
loved
,
and
who
knew
him
now
as
one
whom
in
her
childhood
she
had
seen
caressed
and
welcomed
by
all
her
race
,
to
hold
him
guilty
of
this
wretched
,
mean
,
and
fraudulent
thing
,
under
whose
charge
he
had
quited
her
country
.
Great
dews
of
intense
pain
gathered
on
his
forehead
;
his
whole
mind
,
and
heart
,
and
soul
revolted
against
this
brand
of
a
guilt
not
his
own
that
was
stamped
on
him
;
he
could
have
cried
out
to
her
the
truth
in
all
the
eloquence
of
a
breaking
heart
.
But
he
knew
that
his
lips
had
been
sealed
by
his
own
choice
for
ever
;
and
the
old
habits
of
his
early
life
were
strong
upon
him
still
.
He
lifted
his
head
and
spoke
gently
,
and
very
quietly
,
though
she
caught
the
tremour
that
shook
through
the
words
:
"
Do
not
let
us
speak
of
myself
.
You
see
what
my
life
is
;
there
is
no
more
to
be
said
.
Tell
me
rather
of
your
own
story
—
you
are
no
longer
the
Lady
Venetia
?
You
have
been
wedded
and
widowed
,
they
say
?
"
"
The
wife
of
an
hour
—
yes
!
But
it
is
of
yourself
that
I
would
hear
.
Why
have
left
the
world
,
and
,
above
all
,
why
have
left
us
,
to
think
you
dead
?
I
was
not
so
young
when
we
last
saw
you
,
but
that
I
remember
well
how
all
my
people
loved
you
.
"
Had
she
been
kept
in
ignorance
of
the
accusation
beneath
which
his
flight
had
been
made
?
He
began
to
think
so
.
It
was
possible
.
She
had
been
so
young
a
child
when
he
had
left
for
Africa
;
then
the
story
was
probably
withheld
from
reaching
her
,
and
now
,
what
memory
had
the
world
to
give
a
man
whose
requiem
it
had
said
twelve
long
years
before
?
In
all
likelihood
she
had
never
heard
his
name
,
save
from
her
brother
's
lips
,
that
had
been
silent
on
the
shame
of
his
old
comrade
.
"
Leave
my
life
alone
,
for
God
's
sake
!
"
he
said
,
passionately
.
"
Tell
me
of
your
own
—
tell
me
,
above
all
,
of
his
.
He
loved
me
,
you
say
?
—
O
Heaven
!
he
did
.
Better
than
any
creature
that
ever
breathed
;
save
the
man
whose
grave
lies
yonder
.
"
"
He
does
so
still
,
"
she
answered
,
eagerly
;
"
Philip
's
is
not
a
heart
that
forgets
.
It
is
a
heart
of
gold
,
and
the
name
of
his
earliest
friend
is
graven
on
it
as
deeply
now
as
ever
.
He
thinks
you
dead
;
to-night
will
be
the
happiest
hour
he
has
ever
known
when
he
shall
meet
you
here
.
"
He
rose
hastily
,
and
moved
thrice
to
and
fro
the
narrow
floor
whose
rugged
earth
had
been
covered
with
furs
and
rugs
lest
it
should
strike
a
chill
to
her
as
she
passed
over
it
:
the
torture
grew
unsupportable
to
him
.
And
yet
,
it
had
so
much
of
sweetness
that
he
was
powerless
to
end
it
—
sweetness
in
the
knowledge
that
she
knew
him
now
her
equal
,
at
least
by
birth
;
in
the
change
that
it
had
made
in
her
voice
and
her
glance
,
whilst
the
first
grew
tender
with
olden
memories
,
and
the
last
had
the
smile
of
friendship
;
in
the
closeness
of
the
remembrances
that
seemed
to
draw
and
bind
them
together
;
in
the
swift
sense
that
in
an
instant
,
by
the
utterance
of
a
name
,
the
exbarrier
of
caste
which
had
been
between
them
had
fallen
now
and
for
ever
.
She
watched
him
with
grave
musing
eyes
.
She
was
moved
,
startled
,
softened
to
a
profound
pity
for
him
,
and
filled
with
a
wondering
of
regret
;
yet
a
strong
emotion
of
relief
,
of
pleasure
,
rose
above
these
.
She
had
never
forgotten
the
man
to
whom
,
in
her
childish
innocence
,
she
had
brought
the
gifts
of
her
golden
store
;
she
was
glad
that
he
lived
,
though
he
lived
thus
;
glad
with
a
quicker
,
warmer
,
more
vivid
emotion
than
any
that
had
ever
occupied
her
for
any
man
living
or
dead
except
her
brother
.
The
interest
she
had
vaguely
felt
in
a
stranger
's
fortunes
,
and
which
she
had
driven
contemptuously
away
as
unworthy
of
her
harbouring
,
was
justified
for
one
whom
her
people
had
known
and
valued
whilst
she
had
been
in
her
infancy
,
and
of
whom
she
had
never
heard
from
her
brother
's
lips
aught
except
constant
regret
and
imperishable
