his fortune. A
question fretteth his mood, which persistence maketh not more serious.
But in a kingdom where discontent hath a share, one must study the heart
of the people and win it, if one may. And this is _my_ way to help my
husband. The look of the peasants maketh me weary--as if the sunshine
of their beautiful land were not for them. I miss the happy faces of our
people of Venice!"

"It is a queen-like task," he answered her, a little wondering at her
gravity and purpose. "Meanwhile I will talk with the King's Chamberlain
about the fiefs and about the old nobility," he continued, eagerly
seizing the least tangled thread to draw this uncomfortable conversation
to a close; "would not the Lady Margherita de Iblin know far better than
I? Shall I ask my mother to send her hither?"

The Lady Margherita--the one of all her Cyprian maids of honor who had
most warmly won her friendship--there was no older nor more noble family
in the island than the De Iblin; why had she not thought of her before!

"Aye, bid her come hither," she answered, well-pleased; "we will rest
together in the heat of the day and she shall tell me many things of
Cyprus."

But the Chamberlain felt some uneasiness as he went in search of the
Cyprian lady who was to be the Queen's companion in more than one long,
frank talk. If she were to presume too much upon Caterina's knowledge
and speak too freely, what might happen when the King returned? Might he
not vent his displeasure on Aluisi himself? And if he were to be
dismissed to Venice, who would watch for her as he could do--protect and
help her?

But it was true that she ought not to be kept in ignorance of Cyprian
affairs, and she herself had made the demand.

In the days that followed, Cyprus began to unfold strange problems for
the Queen, as its story fell from the lips of the young Cyprian woman
whose confidence she had so freely invited.

"Tell me I pray thee of Carlotta--Sister to the King--all that thou
knowest," she said.

"It is a long tale, your Majesty."

"And these summer-days will be long, while the King is at the chase; we
must seek wherewith to give them some new interest, for the Court is
dull without him," she flushed like a shy, young girl, adding as if to
cover her show of feeling: "it is dull with so many absent."

The Lady Margherita was some years older than Caterina, and she felt the
gravity of the task that the Queen had imposed upon her--to tell of the
contest be