He nodded, but said
nothing, and presently I was alone.

I sat down on my straw couch and composed myself to think; not upon my
end, for my mind was made up as to that, but upon the girl who was so
dear to me, whose life had crept into mine and filled it, making it of
value in the world. It must not be thought that I no longer had care for
our cause, for I would willingly have spent my life a hundred times for
my country, as my best friends will bear witness; but there comes a time
when a man has a right to set all else aside but his own personal love
and welfare, and to me the world was now bounded by just so much space
as my dear Alixe might move in. I fastened my thought upon her face as
I had last seen it. My eyes seemed to search for it also, and to find it
in the torch which stuck out, softly sputtering, from the wall. I do not
pretend, even at this distance of time, after having thought much over
the thing, to give any good reason for so sudden a change as took place
in me there. All at once a voice appeared to say to me, "When you are
gone, she will be Doltaire's. Remember what she said. She fears him. He
has a power over her."

Now, some will set it down to a low, unmanly jealousy and suspicion; it
is hard to name it, but I know that I was seized with a misery so deep
that all my past sufferings and disappointments, and even this present
horror were shadowy beside it. I pictured to myself Alixe in Doltaire's
arms, after I had gone beyond human call. It is strange how an idea will
seize us and master us, and an inconspicuous possibility suddenly stand
out with huge distinctness. All at once I felt in my head "the ring of
fire" of which Mathilde had warned me, a maddening heat filled my veins,
and that hateful picture grew more vivid. Things Alixe had said the
night before flashed to my mind, and I fancied that, unknown to herself
even, he already had a substantial power over her.

He had deep determination, the gracious subtlety which charms a woman,
and she, hemmed in by his devices, overcome by his pleadings, attracted
by his enviable personality, would come at last to his will. The evening
before I had seen strong signs of the dramatic qualities of her nature.
She had the gift of imagination, the epic spirit. Even three years
previous I felt how she had seen every little incident of her daily life
in a way which gave it vividness and distinction. All things touched her
with delicate emphasis--were etched up