“For this.” Her tones are pleading now and very sad. “I believed—I admit it now, my Guido, falsely believed that you were unworthy of me. When I, the Viceroy’s daughter—” “Penalty!” cries Guy, almost from force of habit, and in a rush the pride of Viceroy’s daughter and the wounded heart of Hermoine de Alva, go down together before the decree of love. He has her lips again, the lips that he has longed for, her soft arms cling to him—the arms he prayed for. And at this moment Guy Chester, surrounded by his enemies, feels that he will win, and no more dreads the hatred of the father, for he has the love of the daughter. “Pish,” cries the girl, struggling from him, “what logic is in you! You call me faithless, and you will not let me open my mouth to defend myself.” “What’s logic to your true eyes,” whispers Guy, “I want kisses from those lips, not words.” “Not another kiss until I have explained.” “Why not?” “Because, though you kiss me as if—as if you loved me,” answers the girl, blushing very red, “still there’s jealousy in your eyes, and I’ll have no jealousy, my Guido, for you have cause for none. You went away bearing my heart with you. You had my present, my picture. Within one week after reaching Brussels it was rumored about the town so that it could not fail to reach my ears that instead of living so as to gain the rank that would make me thine, you had forgotten I—I had given my heart to you, and lived—not as—as a gentleman, but a spendthrift, as worse than that, as one who cared not for my love. What everybody said—I had only known you two days—made me doubt. Then I—as well as a young lady could about a young gentleman she was not supposed to know much of—caused inquiries to be made, and it was the same tale—“You were brave, you were reckless—your life was an insult to my love.” The eyes are blazing now, but very sad. “Then I, by my influence, got word to the Governor of Middelburg no leave of absence for Major Guido Amati, that he might not come to Brussels to again win me over and make me forgive—as you have done now! Holy Virgin, Guido! if you have deceived me; then....” “May I never win you,” cries Guy. “But I am true to you, have been true to you. Great heavens! do you think that I could forget such loveliness as this within a week, within a month, within a year—within my life? You are the daughter of a Viceroy—” “Penalty!” laughs the girl, but blushes and almost runs away from him. “Oh, I’ll pay it, ten times over.” He has her in his arms again. Here suddenly she says to him, her cheeks growing pale: “You’re without leave of absence once more.” “Yes, thanks to you!” He says carelessly, but starts as he sees the stab he has given. She murmurs with white lips: “Desertion from the army, with Middelburg surrounded by enemies—it will mean not the loss of your rank—but the loss of your head. My father is a disciplinarian.” “What did I care for that,” answers Chester, “was it not my only hope of seeing you?”