" Her face had flushed darkly.
"I am sorry, then, if I must suffer by comparison."
"No, no," she protested. "Oh, why will you twist my words and force
me to seem ungrateful? He died rather than have me to wife: you took
me on the terms that within a few minutes you must die. For both of
you the remedy was at hand, only _you_ chose to save me before taking
it. On my knees, sir, I could thank you for that. The crueller were
they that, when you stood up claiming your right to die, they broke
the bargain and cheated you."
"Princess," I said, after musing a moment, "if my surviving seemed to
you so pitiable, there was another way." I pointed to her musket.
"Yes, cavalier, and I will confess to you that when, having fired
wide, they turned to go and the cheat was evident, twice before you
pulled the bandage away I had lifted my gun. But I could not fire
it, cavalier. To make me your executioner! Me, your wife--and while
you thought so vilely of me!"
"Faith," said I grimly, "it was asking too much, even for a Genoese!
Yet again I think you overrate their little trick, since, after
all"--I touched my own gunstock--"there remains a third way--the way
chosen by young Odo of Rocca Serra.
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