"Roxalanne, I did not come to Lavedan to say 'Good-bye' to you. I
seek from you a welcome, not a dismissal."

"Yet my dismissal is all that I can give. Will you not take my hand?
May we not part in friendly spirit?"

"No, we may not; for we do not part at all."

It was as the steel of my determination striking upon the flint of
hers. She looked up to my face for an instant; she raised her
eyebrows in deprecation; she sighed, shrugged one shoulder, and,
turning on her heel, moved towards the door.

"Anatole shall bring you refreshment ere you go," she said in a very
polite and formal voice.

Then I played my last card. Was it for nothing that I had flung
away my wealth? If she would not give herself, by God, I would
compel her to sell herself. And I took no shame in doing it, for by
doing it I was saving her and saving myself from a life of
unhappiness.

"Roxalanne!" I cried. The imperiousness of my voice arrested and
compelled her perhaps against her very will.

"Monsieur?" said she, as demurely as you please.

"Do you know what you are doing?".