Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida' volume 3.djvu/72

Rh won the reverence of her wayward, dominant, and world-worn nature, as it was won by his chivalrous dignity of faíth, his absolute refusal of the ignoble soil of suspicion. It broke down her force; it moved her to a sudden sweetness and warmth of utterance that he had not heard since that moment when she had stooped and touched his lips with her caress.

"Ah, my love, my love!" she murmured; "it is not that. I will never forsake you; I will never betray you! It is that my past, that my presentBut, since you will it so, be it so. I will break my chains for you, and lay down my evil sway for ever. Cali me your wife if you will; no wife shall dare for any, what I will dare for your sake."