But it is possible for men to
love and not to admire. It is a foolish thing to say that reverence
must go with love. I know men who have lost their heads and their
souls for women whom they knew infamous. But when one admires where
one loves, then in the ebb and flow of passion the heart is safe,
for admiration holds when the sense is cold.'
"You know well, Robert, how clever he is; how, listening to him,
you must admit his talent and his power. But oh, believe that,
though I am full of wonder at his cleverness, I can not bear him
very near me."
She paused. I looked most gravely at her, as well one might who
saw so sweet a maid employing her heart thus, and the danger that
faced her. She misread my look a little, maybe, for she said at
once:
"I must be honest with you, and so I tell you all--all, else the
part I play were not possible to me. To you I can speak plainly,
pour out my soul. Do not fear for me. I see a battle coming between
that man and me, but I shall fight it stoutly, worthily, so that in
this, at least, I shall never have to blush for you that you loved
me. Be patient, Robert, and never doubt me; for that would make me
close the doors of my heart, though I should never cease to aid
you, never weary in labor for your well-being. If these things, and
fighting all these wicked men, to make Doltaire help me to save
you, have schooled to action some worse parts of me, there is yet
in me that which shall never be brought low, never be dragged to
the level of Versailles or the Chateau Bigot--never!"
She looked at me with such dignity and pride that my eyes filled
with tears, and, not to be stayed, I reached out and took her
hands, and would have clasped her to my breast, but she held back
from me.
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