Because of Conscience by Amy Ella Blanchard

During all these months it had not fared well with Pierre Boutillier. A baleful star seemed to control his life. Of a poetic, morbidly religious temperament, he was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. His love for Alaine represented the poetry of his nature; his voluntary sacrifice the depth of his religious fervor. Had he remained in the Roman Church he would probably have entered some austere order of monks, and, by repeated scourgings and penances, would have become a saintly father; as it was, he was resolved that his love demanded a consecration of his life, and he sailed away in search of a battle to fight or a martyrdom to endure.

The martyrdom was in sight when he approached the shores of Guadaloupa. It had been but two or three years since he had escaped from that place, a slave running away from a cruel master. It was the policy of those who led the persecution of the Huguenots to make the life of the engagé as hard as possible, as a warning to those uncertainly arrayed upon the side of the Protestants and as a means of compelling any to conform. Therefore, half-starved, beaten, hard worked, the poor engagé lived till his strength failed under the burning suns and he died, less considered than the beasts of the field.