"
"I wish to save you, Yolanda. I want the pain; I hope it will cling to
me all my life. I want to save you from it."
"Perhaps you are beginning too late, Max," said the girl, sighing,
"but--but after all you are right. Even as you see our situation it is
impossible for us to be more than we are to each other. But if you knew
all the truth, you would see how utterly hopeless is the future in which
I at one time thought I saw a ray of hope. Our fate is sealed, Max; we
are doomed. Before long you shall know. I will soon tell you all."
"Do you wish to tell me now, Fraeulein?" he asked.
"No," she whispered.
"In your own good time, Yolanda. I would not urge you."
Max understood Yolanda's words to imply that her station in life was
even lower than it seemed, or that there was some taint upon herself or
her family. Wishing to assure her that such a fact could not influence
him, he said:--
"You need not fear to tell me all concerning yourself or your family.
There can be no stain upon you, and even though your station be
less than--"
"Hush, Max, hush," she cried, placing her hand protestingly against his
breast. "You do not know what you are saying. There is no stain on me or
my family."
Max wondered, but was silent; he had not earned the right to be
inquisitive.
The guard appeared at that moment on the castle battlements, and Max and
Yolanda sought the shelter of a grove of trees a dozen paces from the
bridge on the town side of the moat.
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