To gain or lose it all.

'I am ready,' he said, 'to submit to delay, if I have only some certain
assurance to go upon. But if, after waiting perhaps for three years, I
should find that the Queen no longer desired the marriage, it would place
me in a ridiculous position, and would, to a certain extent, ruin all my
prospects for the future.'

Love proved stronger than girlish pride and independence--the woman was
greater than the queen. The young pair met again on the 10th October 1839,
and on the 14th of the same month the Queen communicated the welcome news
of her approaching marriage to her prime-minister. Her best friends were
all delighted with the news.

'You will be very nervous on declaring your engagement to the Council,'
said the Duchess of Gloucester.

'Yes,' replied the Queen, 'but I did something far more trying to my
nerves a short time since.'

'What was that?' the duchess asked.

'I proposed to Albert,' was the reply.

Etiquette of course forbade the gentleman in this case to speak first; and
we can well believe that the Queen was more nervous over this matter than
over many a state occasion. How the thing took place we may gather in part
from a letter of Prince Albert to his grandmother: 'The Queen sent for me
to her room, and disclosed to me, in a genuine outburst of love and
affection, that I had gained her whole heart.' After the glad announcement