"
Her senses grew dizzy. "Sir," she faintly said, "this is no place to
delude a poor maiden."
"I delude thee not. The brother here waits to wed us."
"Impossible! A burgher maid is not for such as you."
"None but a burgher maid will I wed," returned Sir Eberhard, with all
the settled resolution of habits of command. "See, Christina, thou
art sweeter and better than any lady in the land; thou canst make me
what she--the blessed one who lies there--would have me. I love thee
as never knight loved lady. I love thee so that I have not spoken a
word to offend thee when my heart was bursting; and"--as he saw her
irrepressible tears--"I think thou lovest me a little."
"Ah!" she gasped with a sob, "let me go."
"Thou canst not go home; there is none here fit to take charge of
thee. Or if there were, I would slay him rather than let thee go.
No, not so," he said, as he saw how little those words served his
cause; "but without thee I were a mad and desperate man. Christina,
I will not answer for myself if thou dost not leave this place my
wedded wife.
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