"At least I have not made a mistake which I can not rectify. Madam, let us not be enemies. As you say, I owe you too much. What is it you desire?"--with forced amiability. "Deprive Colonel Annesley of his honor, that, as you say, is inevitable; but I love that girl as I would a child of my own, and I will not see her caught in a net of this sort, or wedded to a man whose government robs him of his manhood and individuality." "Do not forget that I hold my country first and foremost,"--proudly. "Love has no country, nor laws, nor galling chains of incertitude. Love is magnificent only in that it gives all without question. You love this girl with reservations. You shall not have her. You shall not have even me, who love you after a fashion, for I could never look upon you as a husband; in my eyes you would always be an accomplice." "It is war, then?"--curtly. "War? Oh, no; we merely sever our diplomatic relations," she purred. "Madam, listen to me. I shall make one more attempt to win this girl honorably. For you are right: love to be love must be magnificent. If she accepts me, for her sake I will become an outcast, a man without a country. If she refuses me, I shall go on to the end. Speak to the colonel, Madam; it is too late. Like myself, he has gone too far. Why did you open the way for me as you did? I should have been satisfied with a discontented clerk. You threw this girl across my path, indirectly, it is true; but nevertheless the fault is yours." "I recognize it. At that time I did not realize how much you were to me." "You are a strange woman. I do not understand you." "Incompatibility. Come, the carriage is waiting. Let us be gone." "You have spoilt the evening for me," said the count, as he threw her cloak across her shoulders. "On the contrary, I have added a peculiar zest. Now, let us go and appear before the world, and smile, and laugh, and eat, and gossip. Let the heart throb with a dull pain, if it will; the mask is ours to do with as we may." They were, in my opinion, two very unusual persons. [Illustration: "Lay the rose on the table"--Act II.] XVII DINNER IS SERVED "Ha!"