She moved swiftly towards him as he entered
the room and fell on his neck. Not a word was spoken for a minute or two,
then he said:
"Why have you come, Edith? But I need not ask, I know. I will not have it,
I will not have it! I have told you so before. Why is our happiness to be
sacrificed? I have given my work and my life to England, but I will not
give my happiness too, nor will I sacrifice yours."
"You would not be worthy of the trust England reposes in you, Harold," she
said quietly, "were you not ready to give all. As to my happiness, it is at
an end, for I should deem myself as a guilty wretch, as the cause of
countless woes to Englishmen, did I remain as I am. I have been happy,
dear, most happy, many long years. To my last day it will be a joy and a
pride, that nothing can take away, that I have been loved by the greatest
of Englishmen, and my sacrifice will seem light to me under the feeling
that it has purchased the happiness of England."
"But is my happiness to go for nothing?" Harold exclaimed passionately.
"You too, Harold, will have the knowledge that you have sacrificed
yourself, that as you have often risked your life, so have you for
England's sake given up your love. I have seen that it must be so for
years. As Earl of Wessex I might always have stood by your side, but as
soon as I saw that the people of England looked to you as their future
monarch, I knew that I could not share your throne.
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