"O my Lord"—
"Peace, peace! The night wanes, and you have to return. Of what was I speaking? Oh, yes"—
"But hear me, my Lord. At the risk of your displeasure I must speak."
"What is it?"
"In her presence my heart is always like to burst, yet, as I am to be judged in the last great day, I have kept faith with my Lord. Once she thanked me—it was after I offered myself to the lion—O Heaven! how nearly I lost my honor! Oh, the agony of that silence! The anguish of that remembrance! I have kept the faith, my Lord. But day by day now the will to keep it grows weaker. All that holds me steadfast is my position in Constantinople. What am I there?"
The Count buried his face in his hands, and through the links in his surcoat the tremor which shook his body was apparent.
Mahommed waited.
"What am I there? Having come to see the goodness of the Emperor, I must run daily to betray him. I am a Christian; yet as Judas sold his Master, I am under compact to sell my religion. I love a noble woman, yet am pledged to keep her safely, and deliver her to another. O my Lord, my Lord! This cannot go on. Shame is a vulture, and it is tearing me—my heart bleeds in its beak. Release me, or give me to death. If you love me, release me."
"Poor Mirza!"
"My Lord, I am not afraid."