Oh," continued she, passionately, "you believe
me not. You consider my fourteen years, and you think the child knows
nothing yet of a maiden's feelings. But remember, John, that those girls
who live under a warm sun are early ripened by his glowing rays, and are
already wives and mothers when they should still be dreaming children.
Well, now, I too am the daughter of a torrid zone, only mine has not
been the sun of prosperity, and it has been sorrow and misfortune which
have matured my heart. Believe me, John, I love! A glowing, consuming
fire rages within me; it is at once my delight and my misery, my
happiness and my future.

"The king has robbed me of a brilliant and glorious future; let them
not, then, grudge me a happy one, at least. Since I am never to be a
queen, I will at least be a happy and beloved wife. If I am condemned
to live in obscurity and lowliness, at the very least, I must not be
prohibited from adorning this obscure and inglorious existence with
flowers, which thrive not at the foot of the throne, and to illuminate
it with stars more sparkling than the refulgence of the most radiant
kingly crown."

"Oh, you are mistaken about your own self!" said John Heywood,
sorrowfully. "You choose the one only because the other is denied. You
would love only because you cannot rule; and since your heart, which
thirsts for fame and honor, can find no other satisfaction, you would
quench its thirst with some other draught, and would administer love as
an opiate to lull to rest its burning pains. Believe me, princess, you
do not yet know yourself! You were not born to be merely a loving wife,
and your brow is much too high and haughty to wear only a crown of
myrtle. Therefore, consider well what you do, princess! Be not carried
away by your father's passionate blood, which boils in your veins also.
Think well before you act. Your foot is yet on one of the steps to the
throne. Draw it not back voluntarily. Maintain your position; then,
the next step brings you again one stair higher up. Do not voluntarily
renounce your just claim, but abide in patience the coming of the day of
retribution and justice. Only do not yourself make it impossible, that
there may then be a full and glorious reparation. PRINCESS Elizabeth may
yet one day be queen, provided she has not exchanged her name for one
less glorious and noble."

"John Heywood," said she, with a bewitching smile, "I have told you I
love him."

"Well, love him a