“Yes. You gave me your word that you would accept Signor Forza’s decision. He has pointed to you the right way. All the world will say as much. Honor leaves you but one course. Unless you persist wickedly, recklessly, in following your own desire, putting from you every consideration of right or wrong, spurning justice, moral obligation, and the wishes of all save yourself--unless you do all this, you will keep your promise.” The facts were driving Hera overhard. Her eyelids burned, but she kept back the tears that wanted to flow. When she turned to Tarsis she felt more like a supplicant for mercy than one asserting a right which a few hours earlier had seemed not to be gainsaid--the right to be happy in her love. With the solemnity of a woman laying bare the most intimate secrets of her soul, she told him that all her being revolted against surrendering herself without affection merely because of the concurrence that marriage implied; it seemed a bestowal of authority to destroy her spiritual existence. “Having this sentiment,” Tarsis asked, “why did you promise yourself to me?” “It is true,” she answered, “that in the interest of others I consented to become your wife; but that was before I knew the meaning of love.” Frankly she told him that the thought of the union he wished was hideous in her sight; it would be a sacrilege, the defilement of a sacred emotion and her nature rebelled in a degree that was beyond her control. “Sincerely I wish to do all that honor requires,” she said, humbly, “but to live in such a state I cannot, come what may.” Tarsis comprehended fully the difficulty as it now presented itself, and he was equal to it. An effectual method of his in business was to make it easy for the other party to yield to his interest. It mattered little to him on what terms she accepted him as her husband. He would have given the greater part of his fortune to assure the performance of the ceremony which the world awaited at noon. “There is an alternative,” he said, solemnly, “that would satisfy the obligation honor puts upon you and at the same time leave inviolate the sentiment you have just expressed.” “An alternative?” she repeated, wondering. “Yes. I will be satisfied if you become my wife only in name--in the eyes of society, the Church, and the civil law.”