Therefore seek not now, when these pains have been subdued, to
excite them again. My heart should remain dead, my lips mute. You
have so willed; and I have submitted to your will. Farewell, then,
princess, and may your days be happier and more serene than those of
poor Thomas Seymour!"
He bowed low before her, and then went slowly to the door. He had
already opened it and was about to step out, when a hand was
suddenly laid on his shoulder and drew him with vehement impetuosity
back into the room.
"Do you want to go?" asked Elizabeth, with fluttering breath and
trembling voice. "You want to leave me, and, flouting me, you want
now, it may be, to go to the Duchess of Richmond, your mistress, and
relate to her with a sneer that the Princess Elizabeth granted you
an interview, and that you have flouted her?"
"The Duchess of Richmond is not my mistress," said the earl,
earnestly.
"No, not your mistress; but she will very soon be your wife!"
"She will never be my wife!"
"And why not?"
"Because I do not love her, princess."
A beam of delight passed over Elizabeth's pale, agitated face. "Why
do you call me princess?" asked she.
"Because you have come as a princess to favor your poor servant with
an audience. But, ah, it would be greatly abusing your princely
grace did I want to protract this audience still further. I
therefore retire, princess."
And again he approached the door. But Elizabeth rushed after him,
and, laying hold of his arms with both her hands, she wildly pushed
him back.
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