he raised her hand to
his lips with the gallantry of the time; yet retaining it in his own and
petting it in fatherly fashion, for she had been his daughter's friend
from childhood.

"Dear Margherita," he said with emotion, "it is well for our dear Queen
that thou art so loyal; and well for our distraught land that thou
shouldst be near her." He kissed her hand again as he released it. "I
spoke but to try thee, my child. If there are those near her whom we may
not trust--it is not thou: I know that a de Iblin could not be
disloyal."

"To try me--my Lord----! _Me!_"

She had drawn away from him, wounded and disdainful, her voice thrilling
with anger.

But he answered her quietly and sorrowfully. "Could I risk any hurt to
thee, cara Dama Margherita, if duty of plainest speech were not
imperative? I trust thee wholly--how else could I speak thus with thee?
I have never for a moment doubted thee; yet one might doubt one's own
loyalty in this court of Cyprus--where, it is told me, there is a most
subtle intriguer who seeketh to do thee harm."

"So it be not those whose esteem is dear to me," she answered wearily,
still smarting from the hurt, "what matters it?"

"My child," he pleaded, "if it had not been needful, I should not have
told thee; nor told thee _thus_, but that I wished to see if any
suspicion of this had dawned upon thee. But thou, like the Queen, art
too noble to soil thy soul with distrust. Yet, bethink thee, for her
sake, if there be any within this circle--however fairly spoken--who may
be intriguing against thee, yet seeking in secret to disaffect the court
in favor of some other claimant."

"Who brought your Excellency this tale?" she asked; "since all may not
be trusted?" Her tone was a challenge, and she moved towards the door to
close the interview, but the Admiral would not follow.

"Put by thine indignation, Margherita," he answered patiently, "for I
have told thee as I would tell my own Alicia, if danger threatened--if
somewhat overclumsily it seemeth to a maiden's fancy. It was told me,
in confidence, by one of judgment and most loyal honor, whose name I may
not reveal, and who besought me that I should warn thee--_thee,
Margherita_--who knew thy loyalty staunch as his own."

A slow, pale flush grew on the girl's proud cheek as she listened and
her eyes took on a strange light.

"What matters it, my Lord," she said again, "to me, if I have thy trust
and--and--that of all men of honor! F