re was a time when thy
spirit, like a musical string in accord with another, vibrated in
harmony with mine--but it is no longer so."

"Thou art importunate, Sir Christopher. Wilt thou not believe what I
say?"

"Pardon me if I am over urgent, and ascribe it to the value I attach
to my lost treasure. It sweetened the solitude of exile, and made me
almost forget the attractions of stirring Europe. But thou dost not,
and canst not deny my complaint."

"Is there not enough in the circumstances wherein I am placed, to
agitate the timid heart of a woman, and account for her unreasonable
caprices? Why persist in connecting them with thyself as the cause?"

"This is not the first time that I have vainly endeavored to discover
wherein I have offended, that by the humiliation of myself, or by any
other means, I might restore the unison that before existed between
us. I conjure thee, Celestina," he said, approaching and taking her
hand into one of his, while with the other he drew back a curtain on
the wall, which, on being withdrawn, exposed to view the carved figure
of Christ extended on the cross, "by the Captain of our faith, whose
soldiers we are, to put away this estrangement, which if it does not
defeat, may hazard and retard our mutual plans."

The lady withdrew not her hand, but allowing it to remain in his,
stood up. She bowed her head before the crucifix, and murmured--_Domino
Jesu speravi in te_. Turning then to the Knight she said--

"Sir Christopher, look upon that sorrowful face, and that drooping
head, bleeding under the points of the accursed thorns. Thy sins and
mine gave them their sharpness. Gaze upon the hideous nails that
pierce those blessed hands and feet, and upon the blood trickling from
that divine side, and say, canst thou be untrue to him?"

"Woman! Celestina! what meanest thou? Why this solemn adjuration?"

"Thou wert dedicated to a service," she continued, her pale face
flushing with enthusiasm, "to which nobles and kings, the proudest and
noblest of earth, might aspire. Do thy devoir, and incalculable will
be thy reward; fail therein, and the doom of Judas were heaven to thy
fate."

"Thou art mad, Celestina. Some dreadful delusion hath blinded thy
understanding. Hear me now"--and he bent down and kissed the feet of
the image of the Saviour, and then raising his head fixed his eyes
upon it--"per adventum tuum, per nativitatem tuam, per baptismum et
sanctum jejunium tuum, per crucem et passi