A proud light shone in her eyes.
"I should not feel abased in the presence of a princess, if you brought her to me," she said, with that serene hauteur which characterized her. "No, I am satisfied with less than that, Leycester."
"I am relieved," he said, smiling. "And this exalted personage—paragon I should say—who is she?"
"Look round—you need not strain your vision," she returned: "I can see her now. Oh, blind, blind! that you cannot see her also! She whom I see is more than all these; she is a woman with a loving heart in her bosom, that needs but a word to set it beating for—you!"
His face flushed.
"I can think of no one," he said. "You make one ashamed, mother."
"I need not tell you her name, then?" she said.
But he shook his head.
"I must know it now, I think," he said, gravely.
She was silent a moment, then she said in a low voice: