As it is I can only go on--a terror to myself and a bane to others." The young man, absorbed in his own thoughts, did not hear her words.
"The world itself were little to give in order that in exchange I might possess you," he answered.
The girl laughed a strange laugh, and drew back her hand from his.
"Possess me, well--but marry me--no.

Honest men and honourable like Earl Douglas do not wed with the niece of Gilles de Retz.

I had thought my heart within me to be as flint in the chalk, yet now I pray you on my knees to leave me.

Take your thirty lances and your young brother and ride home.

Then, safe in your island fortress of Thrieve, blot out of your heart all memory that ever you found pleasure in a creature so miserable as Sybilla de Thouars." "But," said the young Earl, passionately, "tell me why so, my lady.