He has vowed himself to me before the sacred altar of Holy Church.

Think you that I, a lady born of France, would abase myself to beseech his loyalty?
Not though life or death hung upon the issue! If he can cast me aside for the caresses of this savage harlot, he may forever go his way; never will my hand halt him, or my voice claim his allegiance.

I am his wife before God; to the end I will be true unto my solemn pledges to Holy Church; yet I hope never to look again upon the false face of Charles de Noyan." "Are you not over-hasty in such decision ?" I ventured, conscious of a gladness in my own heart at her impulsive speech.

"Possibly this is a mere passing whim, an idle fancy; he may yet emerge from the craze purified by trial." She looked hard at me, as if seeking to penetrate the flimsy mask I wore, and I beheld a pride in her uplifted face such as had never been visible there before.
"Such might be the way with some women," she returned firmly.

"I am of a race to whom honor is everything.