wanted? Would youth and beauty turn always from him?
He demanded savagely of Carew. "Are you with Hildegarde in this?"
"No."
"You want her to marry me?"
Louis said with sullenness, "I can see the advantages."
"And you have advised her to do it?"
"I haven't advised her."
"Why not?"
"Because she prefers not to take my advice."
Winslow looked at Hildegarde. "You are willing if you refuse to marry me that your father shall pay the price."
Her breath was quick: "Why shouldn't he pay it as well as I?"
"You mean that marriage with me would be worse for you than financial ruin for your father?"
"I mean that for a woman, marriage without love is the greatest price she can pay."
"Which is, of course, nonsense."
"No," she leaned forward, speaking in a passion of earnestness, "marriage doesn't mean to me what you two make of it. It isn't a thing of barter and sale. It is a sacred thing—so sacred that when I go to my husband, I shall go with a flame in my heart . . . like the fire . . . on an altar. And . . . I shall pray that all my life the flame may burn clear and bright. . . ."
She stopped and they sat there, staring at her with a touch of terror. It was as if in her high defense of her dreams she had shown them an Eden where they
