loves must in God's time be loved. Yet"--she paused here, and for a
moment hid her face with her hand--"yet I cannot," she went on. "Is it
our Lord Christ who bids us take the lower place? I cannot take it He
does not so reign in my heart. For to my proud heart--ah, my heart so
proud!--she would be ever between us. I could not bear it. Even though
she is dead, I could not bear it. Yet I believe now that with you I
might one day find happiness."

The prince, though in that hour he could not think of love, was yet
very much moved by her new tenderness, and felt that what had passed
rather drew them together than made any separation between them. And
it seemed to him that the dead lady's blessing was on his suit, so he
said:

"Madam, I would most faithfully serve you, and you would be the
nearest and dearest to me of all living women."

She waited a while, then she sighed heavily, and looked in his face
with an air of wistful longing, and she knit her brows as though she
were puzzled. But at last, shaking her head, she said:

"It is not enough."

And with this she rose and took him by the hand, and they two went
back together to where the Bishop of Modenstein still prayed beside
the body of the lady.

Osra stood on one side of the body, and stretched her hand out to the
prince, who stood on the other side.