Whereat she fell to kissing his hand—a fountain of passionate kisses. Then she rose and laid her hands upon his shoulders and looked into his soul; and he, knowing that his soul was as crystal to her, did not flinch, but rather stood up, and she said to him:—
“My Lord, hear the prayer of a woman, a prayer she has often prayed to Heaven, a prayer for which she had absolution the day that you were in the Queen’s chapel....”
He made a slight movement.
“Nay, stay and hear me out: hear of a woman’s will, oft challenged by herself, but steadfast. Desperate have I been to give myself to you. I have thought and fought and prayed how to find a way to conquer myself.”
“Dear Princess, why not marry? Marry Will: you can see how the boy is eating his heart out for you.”
“No,” she answered, quite simply; “I love him much; I could not be untrue to him.”
The Admiral hung his head as if he had said the shameful thing. But she was not ashamed. She continued: “But now, since poor Ruggiero is dead, there is no need. I am the last of my House. There is no one to be hurt by me.” Something seemed to flash across her as she added: “My uncle is very old, and at Syracuse they hear nothing. So you see,” she said, mistaking his silence, “there is nothing to part us.”
He disengaged himself from her gently.
“Rusidda,” he said, letting those large sensitive lips meet reverently on her forehead, “this is the haven of those who have made mistakes—not for the young with all their life before them. I have enough to blame myself for——”
Even as he spoke, My Lady, who had sent to the city for her proper habiliments, passed up the steps and stood before them.