The accomplished courtier and polished man of the world might
be his superior, but she loathed the superiority, since it was to her
husband. Might not his one chosen dove keep heart-whole for him to
the last? She recollected that coarsest, cruellest reproach of all
that her mother-in-law had been wont to fling at her,--that she, the
recent widow, the new-made mother of Eberhard's babes, in her grief,
her terror, and her weakness had sought to captivate this suitor by
her blandishments. The taunt seemed justified, and her cheeks burned
with absolute shame "My husband! my loving Eberhard! left with none
but me to love thee, unknown to thine own sons! I cannot, I will not
give my heart away from thee! Thy little bride shall be faithful to
thee, whatever betide. When we meet beyond the grave I will have
been thine only, nor have set any before thy sons. Heaven forgive me
if I be undutiful to my uncle; but thou must be preferred before even
him! Hark!" and she started as if at Eberhard's foot-step; then
smiled, recollecting that Ebbo had his father's tread.
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