Part 10 (1/2)
”Senora”--added the prelate.
But Isabella walked slowly away, pondering on principles, while the eyes of the two worldings she left behind her, met, with the sort of free-masonry that is in much request among those who are too apt to subst.i.tute the expedient for the right. The queen did not return to her seat, but she walked up and down that part of the room which the archbishop had left vacant when he approached herself and her husband.
Here she remained alone for several minutes, even Ferdinand holding her in too much reverence to presume to disturb her meditations, uninvited.
The queen several times cast glances at Mercedes, and, at length, she commanded her to draw near.
”Daughter,” said Isabella, who frequently addressed those she loved by this endearing term, ”thou hast not forgotten thy freely-offered vow?”
”Next to my duty to G.o.d, Senora, I most consider my duty to my sovereign.”
Mercedes spoke firmly, and in those tones that seldom deceive. Isabella riveted her eyes on the pale features of the beautiful girl, and when the words just quoted were uttered, a tender mother could not have regarded a beloved child with stronger proofs of affection.
”Thy duty to G.o.d overshadoweth all other feelings, daughter, as is just,” answered the queen; ”thy duty to me is secondary and inferior.
Still, thou and all others, owe a solemn duty to your sovereign, and I should be unfit for the high trust that I have received from Providence, did I permit any of these obligations to lessen. It is not I that reign in Castile, but Providence, through its humble and unworthy instrument.
My people are my children, and I often pray that I may have heart enough to hold them all. If princes are sometimes obliged to frown on the unworthy, it is but in humble and distant imitation of that Power which cannot smile on evil.”
”I hope, Senora,” said the girl, timidly, observing that the queen paused, ”I have not been so unfortunate as to displease you; a frown from Your Highness would indeed be a calamity!”
”Thou? No, daughter; I would that all the maidens of Castile, n.o.ble and simple, were of thy truth, and modesty, and obedience. But we cannot permit thee to become the victim of the senses. Thou art too well taught, Dona Mercedes, not to distinguish between that which is brilliant and that which is truly virtuous”--
”Senora!” cried Mercedes, eagerly--then checking herself, immediately, for she felt it was a disrespect to interrupt her sovereign.
”I listen to what thou wouldst say, daughter,” Isabella answered, after pausing for the frightened girl to continue. ”Speak freely; thou addressest a parent.”
”I was about to say, Senora, that if all that is brilliant is not virtuous, neither is all that is unpleasant to the sight, or what prudence might condemn, actually vicious.”
”I understand thee, Senorita, and the remark hath truth in it. Now, let us speak of other things. Thou appearest to be friendly to the designs of this navigator, Colon?”
”The opinion of one untaught and youthful as I, can have little weight with the Queen of Castile, who can ask counsel of prelates and learned churchmen, besides consulting her own wisdom;” Mercedes modestly answered.
”But thou thinkest well of his project; or have I mistaken thy meaning?”
”No, Senora, I _do_ think well of Colon's scheme; for to me it seemeth of that n.o.bleness and grandeur that Providence would favor, for the good of man and the advancement of the church.”
”And thou believest that n.o.bles and cavaliers can be found willing to embark with this obscure Genoese, in his bold undertaking?”
The queen felt the hand that she affectionately held in both her own, tremble, and when she looked at her companion she perceived that her face was crimsoned and her eyes lowered. But the generous girl thought the moment critical for the fortunes of her lover, and she rallied all her energies in order to serve his interests.
”Senora, I do,” she answered, with a steadiness that both surprised and pleased the queen, who entered into and appreciated all her feelings; ”I think Don Luis de Bobadilla will embark with him; since his aunt hath conversed freely with him on the nature and magnitude of the enterprise, his mind dwelleth on little else. He would be willing to furnish gold for the occasion, could his guardians be made to consent.”
”Which any guardian would be very wrong to do. We may deal freely with our own, but it is forbidden to jeopard the goods of another. If Don Luis de Bobadilla persevere in this intention, and act up to his professions, I shall think more favorably of his character than circ.u.mstances have hitherto led me to do.”
”Senora!”
”Hear me, daughter; we cannot now converse longer on this point, the council waiting my presence, and the king having already left us. Thy guardian and I will confer together, and thou shalt not be kept in undue suspense; but Mercedes de Valverde”--
”My Lady the Queen”--