length of time. We will hope that he will not retain this
new happiness too briefly. It would be of service to us all. What he
might possibly have granted me after long hesitation and consideration,
and with many a delay, he yielded after mass this morning with smiling
lips. Love expands the heart, and at the same time enlarges the views,
especially if it is not an unfortunate one; but this Barbara Blomberg is
a genuine daughter of Eve, over whom the mother of nations, if she met
her by chance, would rejoice. A German Venus, whom I would gladly send
to Titian for a model. And her voice and the unexpected good fortune
of finding such a teacher here! Appenzelder and Gombert are full of her
praises. Good heavens! How she sang yesterday evening! It was enough to
stir the dead. Afterward I drew her aside for a short time."

"And your Majesty did her the honour to feel her teeth?"--[A German
phrase meaning to sound a person's intentions.--TR.]--queried Quijada.

"Feel her teeth?" replied the Queen. "It might have been worth while,
for those that glitter between her rosy lips are white and beautifully
formed. But I did even more--I tested the girl's heart and mind."

"And the result?"

"H'm!" said the Queen. "Very favourable. Yet no. If I must be honest,
that is saying too little. She stood it very, surprisingly well. Her
intellect is anything but limited; nay, her comprehension is so swift
that she can be sure of not trying his Majesty's patience unduly.
Her manners, too, are not amiss for a German; but what is the main
point--she is pious, firm in the faith, and ardent in her hatred of the
foes of the Holy Church. My life upon it! all this is as genuine as the
diamond in my ring, and so the white raven is complete. That she has
returned the Emperor Charles love for love by no means sullies her
plumage. In my eyes, it only shines the more brightly, since one so
great as he permits her, though only for a short distance, to share
his glorious flight. This Barbara is certainly a rare bird. But in the
chase, and as regent of a restless nation, one's sight becomes keen--"

"And now," cried Quijada, "comes the 'but.'"

"It does come," replied the regent firmly, "and I will point it out to
you. I only found the trail; but you, Luis, as a good sportsman and a
loyal friend of his Majesty, will keep a sharp watch upon it. This girl
is obstinate to the verge of defiance, vain, and unusually ambitious."

"She has already shown us t