"Oh, it is not very likely," she said. "I am the only maid of honour the Queen has in Sicily: the others preferred facing the French to the sea-passage." At that moment, glancing through the balustrade of the belvedere, she caught sight of a well fed but badly shaved priest riding on a stout ass, which carried panniers piled up with various kinds of garden produce, as well as himself. "That is the priest of S. Giovanni," she said, with a curious look at the stout red-faced form in its stained, rusty black. "What a shock he would have if he saw you! It was he first told me the tradition of our house, that it would end with the love of a woman for a fair-haired stranger. But W-Will, dear," she said, with a caressing look and remorseful voice--she was really fond of him, and it was the first time she had welcomed him as hostess in her own home--"I am safe, because I have tried so hard to love you, and cannot." "Why do you take such pleasure in torturing me, Rusidda? It is right that you should feel safe, but not for that reason. I am not a prince, and I cannot offer you a palace." "A palace!" she said: "a ruined village! _My house is not large, but at any rate it is not in ruins_, you were going to say." "Indeed, dear, I hope I shall never say anything to hurt you." "You can never tell." "What I was going to say was," he protested rather hotly, "that I have saved quite a good bit of prize-money already, and that under the Admiral I shall make enough to retire on in a few years." At the mention of the Admiral's name her face changed a little. "And so, Rusidda----" Under ordinary circumstances he would have caught the tempting rebellious creature in his arms, and trusted to beating down her defiance with the vehemence of his embrace; but, having been accorded the freedom of embracing her, he took no such extreme measure. When once a woman has accorded a man this freedom, it is not the vehement but the gentle embrace which steals her heart or her judgment; and therefore it was only with lips laid softly on her neck that he asked, "Oh, why will you not marry me, Rusidda?" "I have told you I cannot love you; besides, I have told you about the fair-haired stranger. I look so like being the last woman of my race that it would not be safe for me to marry you." "Fancy believing in an old wife's tale like that!" he said bitterly.