"But for thy sweet sex ambition has so narrow and cribbed a field."

"Not so; for it lives in others. I would say," continued Sibyll,
colouring, fearful that she had betrayed herself, "for example, that
so long as my father toils for fame, I breathe in his hope, and am
ambitious for his honour."

"And so, if thou wert wedded to one worthy of thee, in his ambition
thou wouldst soar and dare?"

"Perhaps," answered Sibyll, coyly.

"But if thou wert wedded to sorrow and poverty and troublous care,
thine ambition, thus struck dead, would of consequence strike dead thy
love?"

"Nay, noble lord, nay; canst thou so wrong womanhood in me unworthy?
for surely true ambition lives not only in the goods of fortune. Is
there no nobler ambition than that of the vanity? Is there no
ambition of the heart,--an ambition to console, to cheer the griefs of
those who love and trust us; an ambition to build a happiness out of
the reach of fate; an ambition to soothe some high soul, in its strife
with a mean world,--to lull to sleep its pain, to smile to serenity
its cares? Oh, methinks a woman's true ambition would rise the
bravest when, in the very sight of death itself, the voice of him in
whom her glory had dwelt through life should say, 'Thou fearest not to
walk to the grave and to heaven by my side!"'

Sweet and thrilling were the tones in which these words were said,
lofty and solemn the upward and tearful look with which they closed.