"And for them you will give me your love?"
Her eyes flickered, and involuntarily she shivered. A faint blush rose and dyed her cheeks. "Only God can give love," she said, her tone lower.
"And yours is given?"
"Yes."
"To another?"
"I have said it."
"It is his. And yet for these letters----"
"For these lives!" she cried proudly.
"You will give yourself?"
"I swear it," she answered, "if you will give them to me! If you will give them to me," she repeated. And she held out her hands; her face, full of passion, was bright with a strange light. A close observer might have thought her distraught; still excited by the struggle in the boat, and barely mistress of herself.