Margaret remained silent, her heart beating heavily.
"Miss Leslie, to-morrow I leave Florence. I may not return for months, or I may get leave of absence and come back within a few days. It rests with you. The words I spoke to you the other night, they are what I would speak again now. Miss Leslie, I love you; will you be my wife?"
Margaret raised her pale face, and regarded him sorrowfully.
"Prince, it cannot be," she murmured. "Oh, I wish—I wish you had not told me——"
"I could not do otherwise than tell you," he said gravely, and with a manly tenderness. "Why should I conceal that which my heart feels? And why cannot it be?" and his fingers closed over hers.
"You forget, prince, you are a nobleman, one of the noblest in Italy, and I——" She stopped.
If he but knew how far beneath and removed from him she was!
"It is true I am a nobleman," he said gently, his dark eyes seeking hers eagerly. "It may be true that you have no title, that to the world our rank may seem unequal; but I love you—you, Mary Leslie, and I should not love you better, it could make no difference to me if you were—well, Queen of England. Besides, have you forgotten that you have a rank that is all your own, won by your genius, a rank more exalted and worthy in my eyes than that of an empress. You are a famous artist, while I—I am but the wearer of a title and sundry decorations, which I share with a score of other men as insignificant in other ways. Ah, listen to me, dear Miss Leslie. I have never loved until I saw you. I cannot ever love any one else. I can never hope to be happy unless I win you——"
"Oh, no, no!" she murmured, with deep agitation. "Do not say that, prince, for it can never be, never! never! Even if my rank equaled your own; even if——" she paused.
"Even if you loved me! Is that what you were going to say?" he inquired, his voice tremulous with suppressed passion. "Ah, say it, dearest! Let me hear the sweet words from your lips! You shall love me! Yes, for I will win your love from you, even against yourself," and he made to draw her near to him, but Margaret drew back, her eyes regarding him pleadingly and sorrowfully.