walls are silent as to what they said, when the door was opened and
the King entered, and saw the kneeling Sture, and asked what it meant.
Margaret answered craftily and hastily: "He demands my sister Martha's
hand in marriage!" and the King gave Svanta Sture the bride the Queen
had asked for him.

We are now in the royal bridal chamber, whither King Gustavus led his
third consort. Catherine Steenbock, also another's bride, the bride of
the Knight Gustavus. It is a sad story.

Gustavus of the three roses, was in his youth honoured by the King,
who sent him on a mission to the Emperor Charles the Fifth. He
returned adorned with the Emperor's costly golden chain--young,
handsome, joyous and richly clad, he returned home, and knew well how
to relate the magnificence and charms of foreign lands: young and old
listened to him with admiration, but young Catherine most of all.
Through him the world in her eyes became twice as large, rich, and
beautiful; they became dear to each other, and their parents blessed
their love. The love-pledge was to be drunk,--when there came a
message from the King, that the young Knight must, without delay,
again bear a letter and greeting to the Emperor Charles. The betrothed
pair separated with heavy hearts, but with a promise of mutual
inviolable troth. The King then invited Catherine's parents to come to
Vadstene palace. Catherine was obliged to accompany them; here King
Gustavus saw her for the first time, and the old man fell in love with
her.

Christmas was kept with great hilarity; there were song and harp in
these halls, and the King himself played the lute. When the time came
for departure, the King said to Catherine's mother, that he would
marry the young girl.

"But she is the bride of the Knight Gustavus!" stammered the mother.

"Young hearts soon forget their sorrows," thought the King. The mother
thought so likewise, and as there chanced to come a letter the same
day and hour from the young Knight Gustavus, Fra Steenbock committed
it to the flames. All the letters that came afterwards and all the
letters that Catherine wrote, were burnt by her mother, and doubts and
evil reports were whispered to Catherine, that she was forgotten
abroad by her young lover. But Catherine was secure and firm in her
belief of him. In the spring her parents made known to her the King's
proposal, and praised her good fortune. She answered seriously and
determinedly, "No!" and when they repeated to