pared thee if I
could; but all I can do is to bid thee choose the lesser of the two
evils. Mark me well: for the Sovereign of the murdered, the judge of
the murderer, alike speak through me." And clearly and forcibly she
narrated all, with which our readers are already acquainted, through
her interview with the King. She spoke very slowly, as if to give
Marie time to weigh well each sentence. She could not see her
countenance; nay, she purposely refrained from looking at her, lest
she should increase the suffering she was so unwillingly inflicting.
For some minutes she paused as she concluded; then, as neither word
nor sound escaped from Marie, she said, with emphatic earnestness--"If
it will be a lesser trial to give thine evidence on oath to thy
Queen alone, we are here to receive it. Our royal husband--our loyal
subjects--will be satisfied with Isabella's report. Thy words will be
as sacred--thy oath as valid--as if thy testimony were received in
public, thy oath administered by one of the holy fathers, with all the
dread formula of the church. We have repeated all to which thy answers
will be demanded; it remains for thee to decide whether thou wilt
speak before his Grace the King and his assembled junta, or here and
now before thy native Sovereign. Pause ere thou dost answer--there is
time enough."

For a brief interval there was silence. The kind heart of the Queen
throbbed painfully, so completely had her sympathy identified her with
the beautiful being, who had so irresistibly claimed her cherishing
love. But ere she had had time to satisfy herself as to the issue of
the struggle so silently, yet so fearfully at work in her companion,
Marie had arisen, and with dignity and fearlessness, strangely at
variance with the wild agony of her words and manner before, stood
erect before her Sovereign; and when she spoke, her voice was calm and
firm.

"Queen of Spain!" she said. "My kind, gracious Sovereign! Would that
words could speak one-half the love, the devotion, all thy goodness
has inspired; but they seem frozen, all frozen now, and it may be that
I may never even prove them--that it will be my desolate fate, to seem
less and less worthy of an affection I value more than life. Royal
madam! I will appear at to-morrow's trial! Your Grace is startled;
deeming it a resolve as strange as contradictory. Ask not the
wherefore, gracious Sovereign: it is fixed unalterably. I will obey
his Grace's summons. Its unexpected