hated by the people of the Court? He is doomed. But more, he is
unworthy of you; while I can serve you well, and I can love you well."
She shrank away from him. "No, do not turn from me, for in very truth,
Leicester's heart has been pierced by the inevitable arrow. You think I
mean you evil?"

He paused with a sudden impulse continued: "No! no! And if there be a
saving grace in marriage, marriage it shall be, if you will but hear me.
You shall be my wife--Leicester's wife. As I have mounted to power so I
will hold power with you--with you, the brightest spirit that ever
England saw. Worthy of a kingdom with you beside me, I shall win to
greater, happier days; and at Kenilworth, where kings and queens have
lodged, you shall be ruler. We will leave this Court until Elizabeth,
betrayed by those who know not how to serve her, shall send for me again.
Here--the power behind the throne--you and I will sway this realm through
the aging, sentimental Queen. Listen, and look at me in the eyes--
I speak the truth, you read my heart. You think I hated you and hated De
la Foret. By all the gods, it's true I hated him, because I saw that he
would come between me and the Queen. A man must have one great passion.
Life itself must be a passion. Power was my passion--power, not the
Queen. You have broken all that down. I yield it all to you--for your
sake and my own. I would steal from life yet before my sun goes to its
setting a few years of truth and honesty and clear design. At heart I am
a patriot--a loyal Englishman. Your cause--the cause of Protestantism--
did I not fight for it at Rochelle? Have I not ever urged the Queen to
spend her revenue for your cause, to send her captains and her men to
fight for it?"

She raised her head in interest, and her lips murmured: "Yes, yes, I know
you did that."