bitter, Her wrongs were hard to
bear. Therefore when my lord chancellor came and made known the object
of his visit, she broke into a passion of tears, and could not speak
from force of sobs that seemed to rend her heart, and wholly choked her
utterance.

The chancellor then retired with some dismay, but waited on her again
next day, when he found her more calm. She begged he would excuse the
outburst of feeling he had witnessed, but added very pitifully that when
she thought of her misfortunes "she sometimes gave vent to that passion
which was ready to break her heart." The advice, or, as he terms it,
"the evidence of his devotion," which the chancellor gave was worthy of
a courtier and a philosopher. He told the young queen he doubted "she
was little beholden to her education, that had given her no better
information of the follies and iniquities of mankind; of which he
presumed the climate from whence she came could have given more
instances than this cold region would afford." Had she been properly
instructed, he furthermore hinted, she would never have thought herself
so miserable, or her condition so insupportable; and indeed he could not
comprehend the reason of her loud complaint.

At this she could no longer suppress the tears which came into her dark
eyes, and cried out she did not expect to find her husband in love with
another woman. Then my lord besought her submission to the king; but she
remained unshaken in the resolution she had formed. She was ready to ask
his majesty's pardon for tiny passion or peevishness she had been guilty
of, but added, "the fire appearing in her eyes where the water was," she
would never endure the presence of his mistress; and rather than submit
to such insult she would "put herself on board any little vessel" and
return to Lisbon.

Back went the chancellor, with a heavy heart and a troubled face, to the
king. He softened the queen's words as much as possible, and assured his
majesty her resistance to his will proceeded "from the great passion
of love she had for him, which transported her beyond the limits of
reason." But this excuse, which should have rejoiced a husband's heart,
only irritated his majesty's temper. That night a violent quarrel took
place between the husband and wife, yet scarce more than bride and
bridegroom. When they had retired, the king--being inflamed with the
words of his courtiers, who assured him the dispute had now resolved
itself into a question