She allowed him to lead her to the darkened nook. In her soul she was
wondering why her tongue was so powerless. There were a hundred things
she wanted to say to him, but now that the moment had come she was
voiceless. She only could look helplessly at him. Joy seemed to be
paralyzed within her; it was as if she slept and could not be awakened.
As she sank upon the cushion he dropped to his knee before her, his hand
clasping hers with a fervor that thrilled her with life. As he spoke,
her pulses quickened and the blood began to race furiously.
"I have won your love, Beverly, by the fairest means. There has never
been an hour in which I have not been struggling for this glorious
end. You gave yourself to me when you knew I could be nothing more than
the humblest soldier. It was the sacrifice of love. You will forgive my
presumption--my very insolence, dear one, when I tell you that my soul
is the forfeit I pay. It is yours through all eternity. I love you. I
can give you the riches of the world as well as the wealth of the
heart. The vagabond dies; your poor humble follower gives way to the
supplicating prince. You would have lived in a cot as the guardsman's
wife; you will take the royal palace instead?"
Beverly was herself again. The spell was gone. Her eyes swam with
happiness and love; the suffering her pride had sustained was swept into
a heap labeled romance, and she was rejoicing.
"I hated you to-night, I thought," she cried, taking his face in her
hands. "It looked as though you had played a trick on me. It was mean,
dear. I couldn't help thinking that you had used me as a plaything and
it--it made me furious. But it is different now. I see, oh, so
plainly. And just as I had resigned myself to the thought of spending
the rest of my life in a cottage, away outside the pale of this glorious
life! Oh, it is like a fairy tale!"
"Ah, but it was not altogether a trick, dear one. There was no assurance
that I could regain the throne--not until the very last. Without it I
should have been the beggar instead of the prince. We would have lived
in a hovel, after all. Fortune was with me, I deceived you for months,
Beverly--my Beverly, but it was for the best. In defense of my honor and
dignity, however, I must tell you that the princess has known for many
days that I am Dantan. I told her the truth when Christobal came that
day with the news. It was all well enough for me to pass myself off as a
vagabond, but it would have been unpardonable to foist him upon her as
the prince."