'You will have the chance—you must have it!'
'Do you promise it to me?' he asked with a kindly smile.
'I do—I can—I know it will come to you!'
'Well, I can wait,' he said quietly. 'When Gloria calls me to go back to her I will go.'
'But what do you mean by Gloria? Do you want a plébiscite of the whole population in your favour?'
'Oh no! I only mean this, that if the large majority of the people whom I strove to serve are of opinion they can do without me—well, then, I shall do without them. But if they call me I shall go to them, although I went to my death and knew it beforehand.'
'One may do worse things,' the girl said proudly, 'than go knowingly to one's death.'
'You are so young,' he said. 'Death seems nothing to you. The young and the generous are brave like that.'
'Oh,' she exclaimed, 'let my youth alone!'
She would have liked to say, 'Oh, confound my youth!' but she did not give way to any such unseemly impulse. She felt very happy again, her high spirits all rallying round her.