While he was speaking it seemed to Vita that it must be some angel talking disguised in the angular, hard exterior of this Prussian. Every nerve in her body which had been so straining seemed suddenly to have relaxed. It seemed as though years of suffering had been suddenly lifted from her poor tortured brain. She recalled how from the beginning she had thought that if hope there were for her it must lie in this very Von Salzinger who had been disgraced through her father's and her agency. She gazed upon him now in wonder, and was half inclined to weep with gratitude and relief. But she restrained herself. And quite suddenly she remembered something else. She remembered the man who claimed her love, and she remembered the love this man was now offering her. The relief of the moment changed to doubt, and, finally, to a renewed despair. There was only one course open to her, and she adopted it frankly and without restraint. She shook her head. "I--honor you for the sacrifice you would make, but I'm afraid it's useless. Besides, I feel it would be impossible to defeat these people. I must tell you, and by doing so I may lose forever your good-will. I do not love you. All the love I have to give has passed from my keeping----" "Ruxton Farlow." There was a sharp, brutal ruthlessness in the manner in which Von Salzinger broke in. Vita shrank at the tone. "Yes," she said. "I love Ruxton Farlow, and have pledged myself to be his wife." "Wife?" There was a smile in the man's eyes which did not conceal his jealous passion. "What chance have you of becoming his wife? None. There is only one chance--your escape from here. Your escape from here can only be contrived by me. Am I--I going to risk my life, and all my future, to hand over the woman I love to--Ruxton Farlow? Vita, I am only a man--a mere human man. I will risk all for you. I will dare even the vengeance of Von Berger if you but promise me. But no power on earth can make me stir a hand to deliver up all I care for in the world to--Ruxton Farlow." The frank, ruthless honesty of the man's denial was not without its appeal to Vita. She even smiled a faint, gentle smile. "It is as I said--useless. It is only as I could have expected. I could not hope it would be otherwise. I love Ruxton Farlow."