She crushed his hands against her bosom and a softer look came into her eyes; her voice was low and sweet, as it had been the morning he asked for Strang.

As she saw the despair deepening in the man's face a great pity swept over her and she stretched out her arms to him with an aching cry, "Marion is gone--gone--gone," she moaned, "and you must go, too! O, I know you love her--she told me that you loved her, as I love Strang, my king! We have both lost--lost--and you must go--as--I--shall--go!" She turned away from him with a cry so heart-breaking in its pain that Nathaniel felt himself trembling to the soul.

In another instant she had faced him again, fighting back a strange calm into her face.
"I love Marion," she breathed softly.

"I would help you--I would help her--if I could." For a moment her pale beautiful face was filled with a light that might have shone from the face of an angel, "Don't you understand ?" she continued, scarcely above a whisper.

"I have been Strang's one great love--his life--until Marion came into his heart.