There was a choking sensation in his throat and tears in his eyes. Transport the blackest soul from among the damned in Hell, wash it white of its sins and seat it upon one of the glorious thrones of Heaven,--such were the emotions that surged through his soul. At last he found his tongue. "Dearest," he said, "bethink yourself of what you say! You are still his wife--and the Church grants no severance of the bonds that have united two for better or worse." "Then shall we see the Holy Father. He is just and he will be merciful. Will you take me, Tristan, no matter to what odd shifts a cruel Fortune may drive us? Will you take me?" She held his face between her palms and forced his eyes to meet her eyes. "Will you take me, Tristan?" she said again. "Hellayne--" It was all he could say. Then a great sadness overwhelmed him, a tide that swept the frail bark of happiness high and dry upon the shores of black despair. "To-morrow, Hellayne, you will be what you were yesterday." "I have thought of that," she said, a slight flutter in her tone. "But--Hellayne is dead.--We must so dispose that they will let her rest in peace."-- CHAPTER XIII THE CONVENT IN TRASTEVERE He stared at her speechless, so taken was he with the immensity of the thing she had suggested. Fear, wonder, joy seemed to contend for the mastery. "Why do you look at me so, Tristan?" she said at last. "What is it that daunts you?" "But how is this thing possible?" he stammered, still in a state of bewilderment. "What difficulty does it present?" she returned. "The Lord Basil himself has rendered very possible what I suggest. We may look on him to-morrow as our best friend--" "But Tebaldo knows," he interposed. "True! Deem you, he will dare to tell the world what he knows? He might be asked to tell how he came by his knowledge. And that might prove a difficult question to answer. Tell me, Tristan," she continued, "if he had succeeded in carrying me away, what deem you would have been said to-morrow in Rome when the coffin was found empty?"-- "They would naturally assume that your body had been stolen by some wizard or some daring doctor of anatomy." "Ah! And if we were quietly to quit the church and be clear of Rome before morning--would not the same be said?" He pondered a while, staggered by the immensity of the risk, when suddenly a memory flashed through his mind that left his limbs numb as if they had been paralyzed by a thunderbolt. It was the night on which the terrible crime at the Lateran was to be committed. Even now it could not be far from the midnight hour. Did he dare, even for the consideration of the greatest happiness which the world and life had to give, to forego his duty towards the Church and the Senator of Rome? Hellayne noted his hesitancy. "Why do you waste precious moments, Tristan?" she queried. "Is it that you do not love me enough?" A negative gesture came in response, and his eyes told her more than words could have expressed.