Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/16

16 What was in poor Madeline's mind? "Don't go, Joseph," she begged.

"I shall come back sooner, perhaps, than you think. See, I have brought you this, Madeline, to pledge my love again," and he placed around her neck a rosary of pearls bearing a golden crucifix. " May I be remembered in your prayers."

"Yes, in every one; but I pray now that you don't go."

"You would not have me stay when it is my duty to go?"

"Yes, yes, I would have you stay. There is always fighting in Paris. Is Paris never satisfied?"

"It is not for Paris, Madeline; it is for The People—for justice and for liberty."

"What shall I do when you are gone! I know you will never come back." She remembered the many stories she had heard from widows and from fatherless playmates of her childhood. Her heart was too heavy to say more; the words would not come. She buried her face on his shoulder and began to cry.

Joseph kissed her hair: they were betrothed.