Dedication
TO MY WIFE AND LOYAL ASSOCIATE
AIMÉE DE BURGH FRANKAU
IN ALL LOVE AND A GREAT REVERENCE
THIS STORY OF A WOMAN’S COURAGE
Epigraph
But woman’s gamble (there’s only one;
And it takes some pluck to play,
When the rules are broke ere the game’s begun;
When, lose or win, you must pay!)
Is a double wager on human kind,
A limitless risk—and she goes it blind.
—From “The Judgment of Valhalla.”