The girl's eyes sank before the ardent gaze of her lover. Many men had made love to her, but none like this man, whose face shone like Jupiter's when, with a look, he killed Semele.
"Oh, sir," she murmured, "if I do not die I shall love you always; but my mind misgives me that I shall die."
As she spoke she fell back fainting, her brilliant color faded to a waxen pallor, the flashing eyes closed; her body, which a moment before was like a blooming rose, was now as lifeless as a withered leaf.
Ivan held her motionless form in his arms. The woman whom he had so loved, for whom he had suffered so much, was his, just as her pulse ceased to beat, just as she had said, "I shall love you always, but I know that I shall die."
But she did not die.
CHAPTER XLIII
THE DIAMOND REMAINED ALWAYS A DIAMOND
THE END