m her. On my soul, I could not
speak. I was tongue-tied, dumb as a dog.

"When you come courting in London," she said, "you must not come so
empty of lover's baggage. There ladies ask vows, and protestations, and
despair, ay, and poetry, and rhapsodies, and I know not what."

"Of all these I have nothing but despair," said I.

"Then you make a sad lover," she pouted. "And I am glad to be going
where lovers are less woebegone."

"You look for lovers in London?" I cried, I that had cried to
Barbara--well, I have said my say on that.

"If Heaven send them," answered Cydaria.

"And you will forget me?"

"In truth, yes, unless you come yourself to remind me. I have no head
for absent lovers."

"But if I come----" I began in a sudden flush of hope.

She did not (though it was her custom) answer in raillery; she plucked a
leaf from the tree, and tore it with her fingers as she answered with a
curious glance.

"Why, if you come, I think you'll wish that you had not come, unless,
indeed, you've forgotten me before you come."

"Forget you! Never while I live! May I come, Cydaria?"

"Most certainly, sir, so soon as your wardrobe and your purse allow.
Nay, don't be huffed. Come, Simon, sweet Simon, are we not friends, and
may not friends rally one another? No, and if I choose, I will put my
hand through your arm. Indeed, sir, you're the first gentleman that ever
thrust it away. See, it is there now! Doesn't it look well there,
Simon--and feel well there, Simon?" She looked up into my face in
coaxing apology for the hurt she had given me, and yet still with
mockery of my tragic airs. "Yes, you must by all means come to London,"
she went on, patting my arm. "Is not Mistress Barbara in London? And I
think--am I wrong, Simon?--that there is something for which you will
want to ask her pardon."

"If I come to London, it is for you and you only that I shall come," I
cried.

"No, no. You will come to love where the King loves, to know what he
hides, and to drink of his cup. I, sir, cannot interfere with your great
destiny"; she drew away from me, curtseyed low, and stood opposite to
me, smiling.

"For you and for you only," I repeated.

"Then will the King love me?" she asked.

"God forbid," said I fervently.

"Oh, and why, pray, your 'God forbid'? You're very ready with your 'God
forbids.' Am I then to take your love sooner than the King's, Master
Simon?"

"Mine is an honest love," said I soberly.

"Oh, I shou