d, smiling, and extending her hand to the
earl: "You are right. It would be a crime to suspect her; and I am a
fool. Forgive me, Seymour, forgive my absurd and childish anger; and I
promise you in return to betray our secret to no one, not even to the
queen."

"Do you swear that to me?"

"I swear it to you! and I swear to you more than that: I will never
again be jealous of her."

"Then you do but simple justice to yourself and to the queen also," said
the earl, with a smile, as he drew her again to his arms.

But she pushed him gently back. "I must now away. The morning dawns, and
the archbishop awaits me in the royal chapel."

"And what will you say to him, beloved?"

"I will make my confession to him."

"How! so you will then betray our love to him?"

"Oh," said she, with a bewitching smile, "that is a secret between us
and God; and only to Him alone can we confess it; because He alone can
absolve us from it. Farewell, then, Seymour, farewell, and think of me
till we see each other again! But when--say, when shall we meet again?"

"When there is a night like this one, beloved, when the moon is not in
the heavens. Oh, then I could wish there were a change of the moon every
week," said she, with the charming innocence of a child. "Farewell,
Seymour, farewell; we must part."

She clung to his tall, sturdy form as the ivy twines around the trunk of
an oak. Then they parted. The princess slipped again softly and
unseen into her apartments, and thence into the royal chapel; the earl
descended again the spiral staircase which led to the secret door of the
garden.

Unobserved and unseen he returned to his palace; even his valet, who
slept in the anteroom, did not see him, as the earl crept past him
lightly on his toes, and betook himself to his sleeping-room.

But no sleep came to his eyes that night, and his soul was restless and
full of fierce torment. He was angry with himself, and accused himself
of treachery and perfidy; and then again, full of proud haughtiness, he
still tried to excuse himself and to silence his conscience, which was
sitting in judgment on him.

"I love her--her only!" said he to himself. "Catharine possesses my
heart, my soul; I am ready to devote my whole life to her. Yes, I love
her! I have this day so sworn to her; and she is mine for all eternity!"

"And Elizabeth?" asked his conscience. "Have you not sworn truth and
love to her also?"

"No!" said he. "I have only received her