h you, because I do not wish a gentleman of your rank to think
too much evil of his queen. Heaven has willed that my secret should be
to you no secret, and therefore I may speak plainly. You may say my own
shame should silence me; I speak to lessen my shame in your eyes, if I
can."

Rischenheim looked up with a dull gaze, not understanding her mood. He
had expected reproaches, and met low-voiced apology.

"And yet," she went on, "it is because of me that the king lies dead
now; and a faithful humble fellow also, caught in the net of my unhappy
fortunes, has given his life for me, though he didn't know it. Even
while we speak, it may be that a gentleman, not too old yet to learn
nobility, may be killed in my quarrel; while another, whom I alone of
all that know him may not praise, carries his life lightly in his hand
for me. And to you, my lord, I have done the wrong of dressing a harsh
deed in some cloak of excuse, making you seem to serve the king in
working my punishment."

Rischenheim's eyes fell to the ground, and he twisted his hands
nervously in and out, the one about the other. I took my hand from my
revolver: he would not move now.

"I don't know," she went on, now almost dreamily, and as though she
spoke more to herself than to him, or had even forgotten his presence,
"what end in Heaven's counsel my great unhappiness has served. Perhaps
I, who have place above most women, must also be tried above most;
and in that trial I have failed. Yet, when I weigh my misery and my
temptation, to my human eyes it seems that I have not failed greatly.
My heart is not yet humbled, God's work not yet done. But the guilt of
blood is on my soul--even the face of my dear love I can see now only
through its scarlet mist; so that if what seemed my perfect joy were now
granted me, it would come spoilt and stained and blotched."

She paused, fixing her eyes on him again; but he neither spoke nor
moved.

"You knew my sin," she said, "the sin so great in my heart; and you knew
how little my acts yielded to it. Did you think, my lord, that the
sin had no punishment, that you took it in hand to add shame to my
suffering? Was Heaven so kind that men must temper its indulgence by
their severity? Yet I know that because I was wrong, you, being wrong,
might seem to yourself not wrong, and in aiding your kinsman might plead
that you served the king's honor. Thus, my lord, I was the cause in you
of a deed that your heart could not welc