The abbot shook his head sorrowfully and would not meet her eyes, for
in this he knew that she was right.

"When an army has lost faith," he said, "it is already beaten. When
Atalanta stooped to pick up the golden apples, her race was lost."

"As when love dies, contempt and hatred take its place," said Eleanor,
as if in comment.

"Suck love is of hell," said Bernard, looking suddenly into her face,
so that she faintly blushed.

"Yes," she retorted scornfully, "for it is the love of man and wife."

The holy man watched her sadly and yet keenly, for he knew what she
meant, and he foresaw the end.

"Lucifer rebelled against law," he said.

"I do not wonder," said the Queen, with a sharp laugh. "He would have
rebelled against marriage. Love is the true faith--marriage is the
dogma." She laughed again.

Bernard shrank a little as if he felt actual pain. He had known her
since she had been a little child, yet he had never become used to her
cruelties of expression. He was a man more easily disgusted in his
aesthetic sensibilities than shocked by the wickedness of a world he
knew. To him, God was not only great, but beautiful; Nature, as some
theologians maintain, was cruel, evil, hurtful, but she was never