"Herr Renwick, I am already much in your debt. Add to my burden, if you will, by keeping silence on a matter so painful——"
"Forgive me——"
"Never. You have betrayed me."
"I'll never give you up."
"You must. Circumstances have placed me in this false position. I am at your mercy. I beg you to be silent."
"You will marry me, some day, Marishka," he asserted cheerfully.
"Never," scornfully. "Never. The House of Strahni, Herr Renwick, holds honor high and loyalty even higher than honor——"
"There is another precept of the House of Strahni," he broke in calmly. "Their women—where they give their lips——"
"Oh, you are intolerable! I abominate you!"
"And I—I still adore you," he whispered. "I shall always adore—and serve."