The Caged Lion by Charlotte Mary Yonge
page 19 of 375 (05%)
page 19 of 375 (05%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
were their lot before, the more is he bound to respect her, and to make
her be respected.' 'That may be, after the deed is done,' said Sir David, in a warning voice; 'but it is not well that like should not match with like. Many an evil have I seen in my time, from unequal mating.' 'And, Sir,' eagerly exclaimed Patrick, 'no doubt you can gainsay the slander, that our noble King has been caught in the toils of an artful Englishwoman, and been drawn in to promise her a share in his crown.' A flush of crimson flamed forth on Sir James Stewart's cheeks, and his tawny eye glanced with a fire like red lightning, but he seemed, as it were, to be holding himself in, and answered with a voice forcibly kept low and calm, and therefore the more terribly stern, 'Young Sir, I warn you to honour your future queen.' Sir David made a gesture with his hand, enforcing restraint upon his son, and turning to Sir James, said, 'Our queen will we honour, when such she is, Sir; but if you are returning to the King, it were well that he should know that our hot Scottish bloods, here, could scarce brook an English alliance, and certainly not one beneath his birth.' 'The King would answer, Sir,' returned Sir James, haughtily, but with recovered command over himself, 'that it is for him to judge whom his subjects shall brook as their queen. Moreover,' he added, in a different and more conciliatory voice, 'Scotsmen must be proud indeed who disdain the late King's niece, the great-granddaughter of King Edward III., and as noble and queenly a demoiselle as ever was born in a palace.' |
|