ague themselves with their
sovereign's enemies rather than suffer a hand upon their privileges. And
even if I were fortunate enough to outwit my masters and rule indeed,
over what a toy kingdom should I reign! How small a number would be
benefited! How little the cause would be helped by my example! As an
obscure pamphleteer I might reach the hearts of thousands and speak to
great kings on their thrones; as Duke of Pianura, fighting single-handed
to reform the laws of my little state, I should rank at best with the
other petty sovereigns who are amusing themselves all over Italy with
agricultural experiments and improved methods of cheese-making."

Again the brightness shone in Fulvia's face. "How you love me!" she said
as he paused; and went on, restraining him with a gesture of the
gentlest dignity: "For it is love that speaks thus in you and not
reason; and you know as I do that the duty to which a man is born comes
before any of his own choosing. You are called to serve liberty on a
throne, I in some obscure corner of the private life. We can no more
exchange our duties than our stations; but if our lives divide, our
purpose remains one, and as pious persons recall each other in the
mystery of the Sacrament, so we shall meet in spirit in the new religion
we profess."

Her voice gained strength and measure as she spoke, and Odo felt that
all that passion could urge must spend itself in vain against such high
security of spirit.

"Go, cavaliere," she continued, "I implore you to lose no time in
reaching Pianura. Occasion is short-lived, and an hour's lingering may
cost you the regency, and with it the chance of gaining a hold on your
people. I will not expatiate, as some might, on the power and dignities
that await you. You are no adventurer plotting to steal a throne, but a
soldier pledged to his post." She moved close to him and suddenly caught
his hand and raised it to her lips. "Your excellency," said she, "has
deigned to look for a moment on a poor girl that crossed your path. Now
your eyes must be on your people, who will yet have cause to love and
bless you as she does."

She shone on him with a weeping brightness that dissolved his very soul.

"Ah," he cried, "you have indeed learned your lesson well! I admire with
what stoic calmness you pronounce my doom, with what readiness you
dispose of my future!"

"It is not mine to dispose of," she caught him up, "nor yours; but
belongs, as much as any slave's t