"You would have been selfish enough to enjoy that knowledge
without giving joy in return. I see. What else could you have
done? A princess! Oh, I would to God you were Miss
Guggenslocker, the woman I sought!"

"Amen to that!" she said. "Can I trust you never to renew this
subject? We have each learned what had better been left unknown.
You understand my position. Surely you will be good enough to
look upon me ever afterward as a princess and forget that I have
been a woman unwittingly. I ask you, for your sake and my own,
to refrain from a renewal of this unhappy subject. You can see
how hopeless it is for both of us. I have said much to you that
I trust you will cherish as coming from a woman who could not
have helped herself and who has given to you the power to undo
her with a single word. I know you will always be the brave,
true man my heart has told me you are. You will let the
beginning be the end?"

The appeal was so earnest, so noble that honor swelled in his
heart and came from his lips in this promise:

"You may trust me, your Highness. Your secret is worth a
thousand-fold more than mine. It is sacred with me. The joy of
my life has ended, but the happiness of knowing the truth will
never die. I shall remember that you love me--yes, I know you
do,--and I shall never forget to love you. I will not promise
that I shall never speak of it again to you. As I lie here,
there comes to me a courage I did not know I could feel."

"No, no!" she cried, vehemently.