He took her by the shoulders and held her at arms' length, before him, thus surveying her, and there was trouble in his keen eyes.
"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle!" he cried.

"Valerie, my child, what are you saying to me ?" "What would you have me say ?" she asked, her eyes upon the floor.

"Was I too forward?
It seemed to me there could not be question of such a thing between us now.

I belong to you.

What man has ever served a woman as you have served me?
What better friend, what nobler lover did ever woman have?
Why then need I take shame at confessing my devotion ?" He swallowed hard, and there was a mist before his eyes--eyes that had looked unmoved on many a scene of carnage.
"You know not what you do," he cried out, and his voice was as the voice of one in pain.