The young queen liking the excitement of the start, and the probable glory to Portugal favoured the enterprise; and strangely enough it fell out, that the war was advocated by all the gayer and wilder spirits, while the more sober doubted and held back.
Queen Leonora laughed at her husband for the strange reluctance that he showed to part with Fernando.
“All the—others,” she said, “were constantly absent from him on long and dangerous errands; surely he could let Fernando go for a few months.”
“That is the very thing,” said Duarte sadly; “I have never been parted from him, and this war fills me with anxiety and dread.”
“Why, you grow slow of heart,” said Leonora, laughing. “You did not think so when Ceuta was before you.”
Spite of this rallying, the parting was a cruel one. Although there was a keener sympathy of character and opinion between Enrique and Fernando, Duarte had been to the latter a constant companion and support; and to act against his judgment, and to cause him pain and anxiety, was the first sacrifice in which his project involved him.