she flung away the baton. "Go! ah, go!"
she cried, as one strangling. "There has been enough of bloodshed, and
I must spare you, loathing you as I do, for I cannot with my own hand
murder you."

But the King was a kindly tyrant, crushing independence from his
associates as lesser folk squeeze water from a sponge. "I cannot go
thus. Acknowledge me to be Alain, the man you love, or else strike
upon the gong."

"You are cruel!" she wailed, in her torture.

"Yes, I am cruel."

Katharine raised straining arms above her head in a hard gesture of
despair. "You have conquered. You know that I love you. Oh, if I
could find words to voice my shame, to shriek it in your face, I could
better endure it! For I love you. Body and heart and soul I am your
slave. Mine is the agony, for I love you! and presently I shall stand
quite still and see little Frenchmen scramble about you as hounds leap
about a stag, and afterward kill you. And after that I shall live! I
preserve France, but after I have slain you, Henry, I must live. Mine
is the agony, the enduring agony." She stayed motionless for an
interval. "God, God! let me not fail!" Katharine breathed; and then:
"O fair sweet friend, I am about to commit a vile action, but it is for
the sake of France that I love next to God. As Judith gave her body to
Holofernes, I crucify my heart for France's welfare." Very calmly she
struck upon the gong.

If she could have found any reproach in his eyes during the ensuing
silence, she could have borne it; but there was only love. And with
all that, he smiled as one knowing the upshot of the matter.

A man-at-arms came into the room. "Germain--" Katharine said, and then
again, "Germain--" She gave a swallowing motion and was silent. When
she spoke it was with crisp distinctness. "Germain, fetch a harp.
Messire Alain here is about to play for me."

At the man's departure she said: "I am very pitiably weak. Need you
have dragged my soul, too, in the dust? God heard my prayer, and you
have forced me to deny His favor, as Peter denied Christ. My dear, be
very kind to me, for I come to you naked of honor." She fell at the
King's feet, embracing his knees. "My master, be very kind to me, for
there remains only your love."

He raised her to his breast. "Love is enough," he said.

Next day the English entered Troyes and in the cathedral church these
two were betrothed. Henry was there magnificent in a curious suit of