sobbing.

"I counted on you," she said wildly. "And you are like the others. No
one cares how wretched I am. I wish I might die."

Then indeed Nikky was lost. In an instant he was on his knees beside
her, his arms close about her, his head bowed against her breast. And
Hedwig relaxed to his embrace. When at last he turned and looked up at
her, it was Hedwig who bent and kissed him.

"At least," she whispered, "we have had this, We can always remember,
whatever comes, that we have had this."

But Nikky was of very human stuff, and not the sort that may live by
memories. He was very haggard when he rose to his feet--haggard, and his
mouth was doggedly set. "I will never give you up, now," he said.

Brave words, of course. But as he said them he realized their futility.
The eyes he turned on her were, as he claimed her, without hope. For
there was no escape. He had given his word to stay near the Crown
Prince, always to watch him, to guard him with his life, if necessary.
And he had promised, at least, not to block the plans for the new
alliance.

Hedwig, with shining eyes, was already planning.

"We will go away, Nikky," she said. "And it, must be soon, because
otherwise--"

Nikky dared not touch her again, knowing what he had to say. "Dearest,"
he said, bending toward her, "that is what we cannot do."

"No?" She looked up, puzzled, but still confident dent. "And why,
cowardly one?"

"Because I have given my word to remain with the Crown Prince." Then,
seeing that she still did not comprehend, he explained, swiftly. After
all, she had a right to know, and he was desperately anxious that she
should understand. He stood, as many a man has stood before, between
love and loyalty to his king, and he was a soldier. He had no choice.

It was terrible to him to see the light die out of her eyes. But even as
he told her of the dangers that compassed the child and possibly others
of the family, he saw that they touched her remotely, if at all. What
she saw, and what he saw, through her eyes, was not riot and anarchy, a
threatened throne, death itself. She saw only a vista of dreadful years,
herself their victim. She saw her mother's bitter past. She saw
the austere face of her grandmother, hiding behind that mask her
disappointments.

But all she said, when Nikky finished, was: "I might have known it. Of
course they would get me, as they did the others." But a moment later
she rose and threw out her arms. "How skil