And it was this that he knew was the mountain in his path, for he was certain that Joanne would not break that last link of bondage.
She would know, with Mortimer FitzHugh alive, that the pledge between them in the "coyote," and the marriage ceremony in the room below, meant nothing.

Legally, she was no more to him now than she was yesterday, or the day before.

And she would leave him, even if it destroyed her, heart and soul.

He was sure of that.

For years she had suffered her heart to be ground out of her because of the "bit of madness" that was in her, because of that earlier tragedy in her life--and her promise, her pledge to her father, her God, and herself.