She made no effort to smile.
"Indeed, my lord, I am glad," she said calmly, "but I would not have you hasten matters too much."
"Why not? To me every day, every hour that separates me from you, seems like weary cycles of dull and deadly years. Methinks that if you would but allow me to proclaim you to the whole world as my future countess, I could wait more patiently then."
"Not yet, my lord, not yet," she said with a slight show of petulance.
"Why not?" he urged.
"The times are troublous for your co-religionists, my lord," she said vaguely.
"Bah! the troubles will not last, and they do not affect me."
"Are you quite sure of that, my lord? One by one the Papists in the kingdom fall under the ban of public hatred."
"We are much maligned, but the king is on our side," interposed Stowmaries with an indifferent shrug of the shoulders.
"Mayhap, mayhap," she rejoined impatiently. "But nevertheless, the Papists are in bad odour. There is talk that the Duke of York will soon be sent abroad. The outcry in London is loud against what is called a Papist intrigue to sell England to France and to place her people under the yoke of Rome."