When the two young women were seated in Nelly's cozy parlor, she began to
open her heart to Frances.
"Yes, the king told me how he invited you to go to the garden with him
one evening, and how he dubbed you 'Little Solomon' when you refused."
"Ah, did he?" asked Frances, surprised at the king's willingness to speak
of his rebuff.
"Yes," returned Nelly, surprising Frances still further by a soberness of
manner rarely seen in the laughing girl.
After a long pause, Nelly continued: "Do you know, I hate the fat
Castlemain woman. And the bow-legged Stuart hussy! She seems to be proud
of her crooked shanks and exhibits them on every possible occasion. There
is something about extreme ugliness that drives it to exposure, on the
principle, I suppose, that murder will out. And there's ugly Wells! I
hate her, too! Her charm, like that of the Puritan's face, lies wholly in
her damned ugliness. I hate them all, though I do not fear them, but oh,
Mistress Jennings--" Here she leaned forward and grasped Frances's wrist
almost fiercely, "The human heart is a strange thing, at least mine is,
for I love you, but oh, I fear you!"
"No, no," cried Frances, at a loss just what to say.
"Yes," continued Nell, insistently. "Let me tell you! Of late I can
neither eat nor sleep because of the dread that you will rob me of the
king's love. I can do nothing but pray and swear. He does love me more
than he loves all the world, because he knows I am true to him! And his
love is meat and drink and life itself to me! If you could see but one
little part of my love for him, if you could know that I worship him,
God help me! as I should worship only my Maker, if you could understand
that if you were to steal him from me, you would take my life, my very
soul,--if so poor a thing as I can have a soul,--you, who may choose and
pick men at will, would leave his love to me!"
"You need not fear, you need not fear," said Frances, soothingly.
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