"Why, then, did she not marry you? All the love in life would have come afterwards." "Can you not see, Kitty, that there was another, whom she could not marry, and that it was from this passion that she sought to save herself?" "And could you not save her, Will?" asked Katherine, with a lump in her throat, and wondering how a passionate woman could have resisted his suit. He shook his head. "And did she die of shame?" "There was no shame--except my shame in having lived for her pure caresses. She killed herself for love." "What manner of man was he, this man, who took away her eyes for you, Will? Was he of mighty stature, or born to the mastery of women?" "He was a little plain man, with one eye and one arm, who was born to the mastery of every man or woman who ever came under his magic influence." "A little man no bigger than Admiral Nelson?" "A little man no bigger than the Admiral." "It was he?" He nodded. "And did he know of it?" Will told her of the interview we had involuntarily witnessed. "And you say she is dead?" "That is the saddest of all. The Princes of Favara were of the ancient family of Mardolce, so called from the little lake of good water which was the most valued possession of the Norman founder of their family--a mere pond now. There was a prophecy that the last of the race should perish through the love of a fair-haired stranger from the North; and the sweetest woman of Sicily, the last of her race, drowned herself in the Mardolce for love of the Admiral." "Did every one know it?--had it become a scandal?" "No; only he and My Lady, and Trinder, who sent me up word, knew of the cause, when the news was brought to the flagship by the _Sirena_ from Palermo yesterday. She had, it seems, begged the Admiral to bring her in the _Foudroyant_ with the Hamiltons, when he left Palermo for Naples two or three weeks since; and, when he refused, she humbled her pride and begged my Lady Hamilton, whom she hated, as her worst enemy, and despised, to intercede for her. My Lady is generous, and used her utmost entreaties--though she knew the reason--but in vain; and the next day after we sailed poor Rusidda was found in the Mardolce," replied Will, very white. Presently, when he had recovered himself a little, Katherine, who had heard no rumours, asked, "And Lady Hamilton--what of her?" To which Will replied stoutly, "The Admiral loves her," and from that he would not be budged. While Katherine had been questioning him of Donna Rusidda and the Admiral, Will had forgotten his ashamedness a little, and no longer held her at arms' length, but by the hands loosely. By the slightest movement, she was holding his hands, instead of he hers. But the movement was full of consciousness. "Will," she said, forcing him to raise responding eyes, "do you love me now?" "With all the strength of shame, Kitty, and before everything in the world. But can you forgive?" "You haven't kissed me yet, Will!"