"Well, isn't it true? Your father was chief of his tribe, your brother is its head now. Chief, prince, king--it all comes to the same thing in the end. I made this clear to the baroness, and would have traced your lineage back to Mahomet--oh dear, no, that wouldn't do, you are a Christian--or to Saint George himself. I told her so much about your father's heroic deeds that she became filled with reverence, and then I gave her your letter to me and made her admire your own courage and Gerald's rescue at the Vila spring. That shook the fortress, and when I stormed it with an appeal to her maternal love and Gerald's letters were produced again, it yielded. You see I am not a degenerate daughter of my father; my first campaign ended with victory along the whole line."
The young wife sat silently with down-cast eyes. She felt the generosity of this conduct and at the same time realized how greatly she had formerly undervalued Edith.
"And I must not even thank you!" she said with passionate fervor. "You want to escape our gratitude and leave us this very hour. Must it be?"
"I must go to papa, who expects me. Don't prevent me, Danira, I--cannot stay."
She tried to smile again, but this time she did not succeed, her lips only quivered and she was obliged to turn away to force back the rising tears. Then she felt Danira's arms clasp her, and her lips pressed to hers.
"Edith, don't try to deceive me like the others. I know what your brave championship of our happiness has cost you, and how you have suffered. You may surely confess it to me."
Edith did not contradict her. She only hid her face on Danira's shoulder, but how the tears streamed from her eyes!
"It was nothing," she sobbed. "A child's foolish dream--nothing more. Don't tell Gerald I have been crying--promise to say nothing to him--he ought not, must not know."
"Be calm, he shall learn nothing. It is enough for me to endure the grief of having robbed you of your happiness."
"No!" Edith's tears suddenly ceased as she started up. "No, Danira, I should not have been happy with him. I felt from the first moment that he did not love me, and knew it the instant he flamed into such passionate defence of you. He never had that look and tone for me; you first taught them to him. Is it not true that he can love ardently and make his wife infinitely happy?"