“Are you yet one of us?” he asked, as she received his gift on her knee.
“No, sir, I cannot—”
“That must be amended. You have read his late Majesty’s paper?”
“I have, sir.”
“And seen Father Giverlai?”
“Yes, please your Majesty.”
“And still you are not convinced. That must not be. I would gladly consider and promote you, but I can only have true Catholics around my son. I shall desire Father Crump to see you.”
CHAPTER XVIII
Hallowmas Eve
“This more strange
Than such a murder is.”Macbeth.
“Bambino mio, bambino mio,” wailed Mary Beatrice, as she pressed her child to her bosom, and murmured to him in her native tongue. “And did they say he was not his mother’s son, his poor mother, whose dearest treasure he is! Oimè, crudeli, crudelissimi! Even his sisters hate him and will not own him, the little jewel of his mother’s heart!”