"Are you coming back to me? Have you the right to
come into my life as you have done, and to leave me? Does God impose but
one duty on you--that of your birth?"
"Ah, Fraeulein," answered Max, huskily, "you know--you know what I
suffer."
"I surely do know," she responded, "else I would not speak so plainly.
But answer me, Sir Max. Answer my question. It is my right to know upon
what I may depend. Will you come back to me?"
The imperious will of the princess had come to the rescue of Yolanda,
the burgher girl.
Max paused before speaking, then grasped her hands fiercely and
answered:--
"Before God, Fraeulein, I will come back to you, if I live."
Yolanda sank upon the cushioned bench, covered her face with her hands,
and the pent-up storm of sobs and tears broke forth as Max and I passed
out the door.
Yolanda had won.
CHAPTER XIX
MAX GOES TO WAR
The next morning at dawn our army marched. Although Duke Charles would
not encumber himself with provisions for his men, he carried a vast
train of carts filled with plate, silk tents, rich rugs, and precious
jewels; for, with all his bravery, this duke's ruling passion was the
love of display in the presence of foreigners.
I shall not give the story of this disastrous war in detail; that lies
in the province of history, and my story relates only to Max and
Yolanda, and to the manner in which they were affected by the results
of the war.
We marched with forty thousand men, and laid siege to the city of
Granson, in the district of Vaud.
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