To break the mirror would be to destroy his very life to banish out of his universe the only glory it possessed.

The whole world would be but a prison, if he annihilated the one window that looked into the paradise of love.

Not yet pure in love, he hesitated.
With a wail of sorrow the lady rose to her feet.

"Ah! he loves me not; he loves me not even as I love him; and alas! I care more for his love than even for the freedom I ask." "I will not wait to be willing," cried Cosmo; and sprang to the corner where the great sword stood.
Meantime it had grown very dark; only the embers cast a red glow through the room.

He seized the sword by the steel scabbard, and stood before the mirror; but as he heaved a great blow at it with the heavy pommel, the blade slipped half-way out of the scabbard, and the pommel struck the wall above the mirror.