ions. In the last council, in which the
question of this Moorish war was agitated, our faithful Morales was
the most eloquent. His impassioned oratory so haunted me, as your
Grace spoke, that I can scarcely now believe it hushed for ever, save
for the too painful witness of its truth."

"His lovely wife thou meanest, Isabel? Poor girl! How fares she?"

"As she has been since that long faint, which even I believed was
death; pale, tearless, silent. Even the seeing of her husband's body,
which I permitted, hoping the sight would break that marble calm,
has had no effect, save to increase, if possible, the rigidity of
suffering. It is for her my present errand."

"For her!" replied the King, surprised. "What can I do for her, apart
from thee?"

"I will answer the question by another, Ferdinand. Is it true that she
must appear as evidence against the murderer in to-morrow's trial?"

"Isabella, this must be," answered the King, earnestly. "There seems
to me no alternative; and yet surely this cannot be so repugnant to
her feelings. Would it not be more injustice, both to her, and to the
dead, to withhold any evidence likely to assist in the discovery of
the murderer?"

"But why lay so much stress on her appearance? Is there not sufficient
evidence without her?"

"Not to satisfy me as to Stanley's guilt," replied the King. "I
have heard indeed from Don Luis Garcia quite enough, _if it be true
evidence_, to condemn him. But I like not this Garcia; it is useless
now to examine wherefore. I doubt him so much, that I would not, if
possible, lay any stress upon his words. He has declared on oath that
he saw Stanley draw his sword upon Morales, proclaim aloud his undying
hatred, and swear that he would take his life or lose his own; but
that, if I were not satisfied with this assurance, Donna Marie herself
had been present, had seen and heard all, and could no doubt give a
very efficient reason, in her own beautiful person, for Stanley's
hatred to her husband, as such matters were but too common in Spain.
I checked him with a stern rebuke; for if ever there were a
double-meaning hypocrite, this Don Luis is one. Besides, I cannot
penetrate how he came to be present at this stormy interview. He has
evaded, he thinks successfully, my questions on this head; but if, as
I believe, it was dishonorably obtained, I am the less inclined to
trust either him or his intelligence. If Marie were indeed present,
which he insists she was,