Therefore he was able to part from Lenora with a light heart, whilst hers was overweighted with sorrow. He kissed her eyes, her hair, her lips, and murmured protestations of deathless love which only enhanced her grief and enflamed all that selfless ardour of which her passionate nature was capable. Never had she loved don Ramon de Linea as she loved him at this hour of parting--never perhaps would she love as fondly again. And he with a last, tender kiss, airily bade her to be brave and trustful, and finally waved her a cheery farewell. CHAPTER II THE SUBJECT RACE I "I cannot do it, mother, I cannot! The very shame of it would kill me!" Laurence van Rycke sat on a low chair in front of the fire, his elbow propped on his knee, his chin buried in his hand. His mother gave a little shiver, and drew her woollen shawl closer round her shoulders. "You cannot go against your father’s will," she said tonelessly, like one who has even lost the power to suffer acutely. "God alone knows what would become of us all if you did." "He can only kill me," retorted Laurence, with fierce, passionate resentment. "And how should I survive if he did?" "Would you not rather see me dead, mother dear, than wedded to a woman whose every thought, every aspiration must tend toward the further destruction of our country--she the daughter of the most hideous tyrant that has ever defamed this earth--more hideous even than that execrable Alva himself..." He paused abruptly in the midst of this passionate outburst, for the old house--which had been so solemn and silent awhile ago, suddenly echoed from end to end with loud and hilarious sounds, laughter and shouts, heavy footsteps, jingle of spurs and snatches of song, immediately followed by one or two piteous cries uttered in a woman’s piercing voice. Laurence van Rycke jumped to his feet. "What was that?" he cried, and made a dash for the door. His mother’s imploring cry called him back. "No, no, Laurence! don’t go!" she begged. "It is only the soldiers! They tease Jeanne, and she gets very cross! ... We have six men and a sergeant quartered here now, besides the commandant..."