"Mary, I sinned," he said, "and I was blind.

Oh, my beloved, are you Lion's wife?"

"Belov'd sounds strange," she answered, "in my present life.

"But it is sweet to hear it, all the same.

It is a language little heard by me

Alone, in that man's keeping, with my shame.

I never thought such miseries could be.

I was so happy in you, Michael. He

Came when I felt you changed from what I thought you.

Even now it is not love, but jealousy that brought you."