Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/116

 Thou paintest well: and yet thy picture fails To mention one unpleasant visitor That would cohabit there with me for aye, Galling each joy, embittering every pleasure.

I know not what thou meanest, man?

Disgrace! Disgrace before my friends and countrymen, Disgrace before my very enemies, And worse than all, disgrace before myself. And if thou say that Elsie could desire To have for husband a dishonored man, I answer thee: a thousand times, no, no! Thou canst not rob us of the confidence Wherewith we trust each other, though divided. For love and honor are the self-same thing In every heart whose pulse throbs for the right. True to oneself is to be true to all. If nothing else be thy commission than To test my strength, thou couldst have spared that trouble. Where actions speak, words might be fitly saved.

If nought will overcome thy stubbornness.