as it not also your purpose?"

"I suppose it was, but I hate myself for having conceived it. I'm
learning to hate every one, the king more than any man, unless I except
that little wretch, Jermyn, the court lady-killer. What a despicable
thing your lady-killer is! Doubtless God created him to show by
comparison the great worth of worms, snakes, and other reptiles."

"What has Little Jermyn been doing?" I asked, amused at her
vindictiveness.

"He has crushed so many hearts that he deems himself irresistible, and
of late has been annoying me. If by any chance he finds me alone, he
importunes me to make a tryst with him and save him from death because of
a broken heart. I usually answer by walking away from him and try to show
him that he is beneath even my contempt, but his vanity is so great that
he imagines my manner to be the outgrowth of pique or a desire to lead
him on. Therefore when others are present, he gazes on me with down-bent
head and eyes upturned from beneath his bulging forehead, as though he
would put a spell upon me."

"Well, let him gaze. It can't harm you," I suggested.

"No, but it makes me ill," she answered. "Three nights ago I was standing
with the king and several ladies and gentlemen, waiting for the country
dance to begin, for which the king was to call the changes. This Little
Jermyn came up to the group, and, without speaking a word to any one,
fixed his upturned eyes on me."

"That was a sin," I said, laughing, but she ignored my interruption.

"For a time I paid no heed, but soon his gaze so nauseated me that I
could not restrain my anger, and said, loud enough for him and the others
to hear, 'What ails the little man, that he should stand there staring at
me like a sick calf trying to cast a spell upon the moon?' The king
laughed and Jermyn bowed, as he replied, 'The moon pretends to disdain
veal, doubtless in the hope of having royal beef.' The king laughed and
told Jermyn to gaze elsewhere, if the moon refused to be spellbound, and
the little creature left us to carry out the king's suggestion. But I
shall marry Tyrconnel and make an end of it all just as soon as
possible.'"

We returned to the palace, and I did not see my cousin during the next
week. Meantime the king was growing more importunate, and one day affairs
reached a terrifying climax when he intimated to Frances that if she
would promise to become his wife, he would try to divorce the queen. It
has been said, doubtles