"
"It is true," said the king, "I should have misjudged this noble
woman, and, instead of thanking her, I should have destroyed her."
"Therefore, my king, I quietly allowed you to make out an order for
the queen's incarceration. But you remember well, sire, I begged you
to return to your apartments before the queen was arrested. Well,
now, there I should have disclosed to you the whole secret, which I
could not tell you in the presence of that woman. For she would die
of shame if she suspected that you knew of her love for the king, so
pure and self-sacrificing, and cherished in such heroic silence."
"She shall never know it, Douglas! But now at length satisfy my
desire. Tell me her name."
"Sire, you have forgiven me, then? You are no longer angry with me
that I dared to deceive you?"
"I am no longer angry with you, Douglas; for you have acted rightly.
The plan, which you have contrived and carried out with such happy
results, was as crafty as it was daring."
"I thank you, sire; and I will now tell you the name. That woman,
sire, who at my wish gave herself up a sacrifice to this adulterous
earl, who endured his kisses, his embraces, his vows of love, in
order to render a service to her king--that woman was my daughter,
Lady Jane Douglas!"
"Lady Jane!" cried the king. "No, no, this is a new deception. That
haughty, chaste, and unapproachable Lady Jane--that wonderfully
beautiful marble statue really has then a heart in her breast, and
that heart belongs to me? Lady Jane, the pure and chaste virgin, has
made for me this prodigious sacrifice, of receiving this hated
Surrey as her lover, in order, like a second Delilah, to deliver him
into my hand? No, Douglas, you are lying to me.
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