, "which must be cleared up. I have heard,
Dirk, that by faith you are what is called a heretic. Is it true?"

He hesitated before answering, feeling that much depended on that
answer. But it was only for an instant, since Dirk was far too honest a
man to lie.

"Lysbeth," he said, "I will tell to you what I would not tell to any
other living creature, not being one of my own brotherhood, for whether
you accept me or reject me, I know well that I am as safe in speaking
to you as when upon my knees I speak to the God I serve. I _am_ what you
call a heretic. I am a member of that true faith to which I hope to draw
you, but which if you do not wish it I should never press upon you. It
is chiefly because I am what I am that for so long I have hung back from
speaking to you, since I did not know whether it would be right--things
being thus--to ask you to mix your lot with mine, or whether I ought to
marry you, if you would marry me, keeping this secret from you. Only the
other night I sought counsel of--well, never mind of whom--and we prayed
together, and together searched the Word of God. And there, Lysbeth, by
some wonderful mercy, I found my prayer answered and my doubts solved,
for the great St. Paul had foreseen this case, as in that Book all cases
are foreseen, and I read how the unbelieving wife may be sanctified by
the husband, and the unbelieving husband by the wife. Then everything
grew clear to me, and I determined to speak. And now, dear, I have
spoken, and it is for you to answer."

"Dirk, dear Dirk," she replied almost with a cry, "alas! for the answer
which I must give you. Renounce the error of your ways, make confession,
and be reconciled to the Church and--I will marry you. Otherwise I
cannot, no, and although I love you, you and no other man"--here she put
an energy into her voice that was almost dreadful--"with all my heart
and soul and body; I cannot, I cannot, I cannot!"

Dirk heard, and his ruddy face turned ashen grey.

"Cousin," he replied, "you seek of me the one thing which I must not
give. Even for your sake I may not renounce my vows and my God as
I behold Him. Though it break my heart to bid you farewell and live
without you, here I pay you back in your own words--I cannot, I cannot,
I cannot!"

Lysbeth looked at him, and lo! his short, massive form and his
square-cut, honest countenance in that ardour of renunciation had
suffered a change to things almost divine. At that moment--to her si