and all wrath was gone. Sonless myself, why would he not be my son?"
The earl's voice trembled, and the tears stood in his dark eyes.

"Speak thus, dear lord, to Isabel, for I fear her overvaulting spirit--"

"Ah, had Isabel been his wife!" he paused and moved away. Then, as if
impatient to escape the thoughts that tended to an ungracious
recollection, he added, "And now, sweetheart, these slight fingers
have ofttimes buckled on my mail; let them place on my breast this
badge of St. George's chivalry; and, if angry thoughts return, it
shall remind me that the day on which I wore it first, Richard of York
said to his young Edward, 'Look to that star, boy, if ever, in cloud
and trouble, thou wouldst learn what safety dwells in the heart which
never knew deceit.'"

During the banquet, the king, at whose table sat only the Duke of
Clarence and the earl's family, was gracious as day to all, but
especially to the Lady Anne, attributing her sudden illness to some
cause not unflattering to himself; her beauty, which somewhat
resembled that of the queen, save that it had more advantage of
expression and of youth, was precisely of the character he most
admired. Even her timidity, and the reserve with which she answered
him, had their charms; for, like many men, themselves of imperious
nature and fiery will, he preferred even imbecility in a woman to
whatever was energetic or determined; and hence perhaps his
indifference to the more dazzling beauty of Isabel. After the feast,
the numerous demoiselles, high-born and fair, who swelled the more
than regal train of the countess, were assembled in the long gallery,
which was placed in the third story of the castle and served for the
principal state apartment. The dance began; but Isabel excused