Minion callest thou him?" she
continued, with increasing vehemence. "He was indeed my lover,
and a most true one; but never sought he grace from me by look or
word--contented with such humble observance as men pay to the
saints. And the good--the valiant--the faithful must die for
this!"
"Oh, peace, peace, for pity's sake," whispered the Queen, "you do
but offend him more!"
"I care not," said Edith; "the spotless virgin fears not the
raging lion. Let him work his will on this worthy knight.
Edith, for whom he dies, will know how to weep his memory. To me
no one shall speak more of politic alliances to be sanctioned
with this poor hand. I could not--I would not --have been his
bride living--our degrees were too distant. But death unites the
high and the low--I am henceforward the spouse of the grave."
The King was about to answer with much anger, when a Carmelite
monk entered the apartment hastily, his head and person muffled
in the long mantle and hood of striped cloth of the coarsest
texture which distinguished his order, and, flinging himself on
his knees before the King, conjured him, by every holy word and
sign, to stop the execution.
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