lizabeth rushed after him, and,
laying hold of his arms with both her hands, she wildly pushed him back.

Her eyes shot lightning; her lips trembled; a passionate warmth was
manifested in her whole being. Now she was the true daughter of her
father, inconsiderate and passionate in her wrath, destroying in her
ferocity.

"You shall not go," muttered she, with her teeth firmly set. "I will not
let you go! I will not let you confront me any longer with that cold,
smiling face. Scold me; cast on me the bitterest reproaches, because I
have dared to brave you so long; curse me, if you can! Anything but this
smiling calmness. It kills me; it pierces my heart like a dagger. For
you see well enough that I have no longer the power to withstand you;
you see well enough that I love you. Yes, I love you to ecstasy and to
desperation; with desire and dread. I love you as my demon and my angel.
I am angry, because you have so entirely crushed the pride of my heart.
I curse you, because you have made me so entirely your slave; and the
next moment I fall on my knees and beseech God to forgive me this crime
against you. I love you, I say--not as those soft, gentle-hearted women
love, with a smile on the lip; but with madness and desperation, with
jealousy and wrath. I love you as my father loved Anne Boleyn, whom, in
the hatred of his love and the cruel wrath of his jealousy, he made to
mount the scaffold, because he had been told that she was untrue to him.
Ah, had I the power, I would do as my father did; I would murder you, if
you should dare ever to cease to love me. And now, Thomas Seymour, now
say whether you have the courage to desire to leave me?"

She looked bewitching in the naming might of her passion; she was so
young, so ardent; and Thomas Seymour was so ambitious! In his eyes
Elizabeth was not merely the beautiful, charming maiden, who loved him:
she was more than that: she was the daughter of Henry the Eighth, the
Princess of England, perchance some day the heiress of the throne. It is
true, her father had disinherited her, and by act of Parliament declared
her unworthy of succeeding to the throne.[Footnote: Burnet, vol. i,
p. 138] But Henry's vacillating mind might change, and the disowned
princess might one day become queen.

The earl thought of this as he gazed on Elizabeth--as he saw her before
him, so charming, so young, and so glowing with passion. He thought of
it as he now clasped her in his arms, and pressed on