"Oh, speak not so wildly, sir!" cried Mary. "You have great powers and noble energies, which will guide you to the height of fame; and yet, I trust, to the height of happiness. Indeed, sir, I cannot speak farther, while you seem so moved."
"Madam, I am perfectly calm," replied Albert Maurice. "Those energies and those powers your Grace is pleased to speak of, may last a longer or a shorter time, according to God's will; and I am most anxious to wipe out any offence I have committed, by employing them vigorously in your service. Let me beseech you to speak. Shall I send off immediate messengers to the Archduke?"
"No, no! Oh, no!" cried Mary; "I fear too much has been done already in that course, by my kind step-dame, the Duchess Margaret, and my good cousin of Ravestein; for I hear--for I hear--that the Archduke is already on his way to Brussels."
"Ha!" cried Albert Maurice; "ha!" but he said no more, and the princess proceeded.
"Yet, sir," she said, "I have many fears; for I know that the Duke of Cleves has not only sent forth messengers to forbid his approach, but also I learn from my dear foster-sister, Alice of Imbercourt, who is now with the good Lord of Hannut, that a hundred men, bearing the colours of the house of Cleves, have passed through Brussels; and, there is reason to believe, they waylay the road from the Rhine."
"Indeed! This must be seen to!" said the young citizen, in the same abstracted manner. "But your Grace was about to add----"
"Merely this, sir," replied Mary, with that calm, impressive gentleness that is more touching than any vehemence; "that the man to whom I believe myself plighted by every tie but the final sanction of the church, is, I am told, on his road hither, slenderly accompanied--for the avarice of the emperor is well known; and his son now journeys with hardly ten attendants. He has strong enemies on the way and I leave you to judge, sir, of the feelings that I experience."
The lip of Albert Maurice quivered; but he still retained command over himself, and replied in a low but distinct voice, though, in every tone, the vehement struggle he maintained to master the agony of his heart was still apparent: "To calm those feelings, madam, shall be my first effort; and, as I have received timely information, entertain not the slightest apprehension of the result. I will serve you, madam, more devotedly than I would serve myself; and the last energies that, possibly, I may ever be able to command, shall be directed to secure your happiness. I have now detained you long. Night wears, and time is precious. I humbly take my leave. May Heaven bless you, madam! May Heaven bless you! and send you happier days to shine upon your reign, than those with which it has begun."
He bowed low, and took two or three steps towards the door, while Mary gazed upon him with eyes in which compassion for all she saw that he suffered, and woman's invariable sympathy with love, called up an unwilling tear. "Stay, sir, one moment," she said at length; "it may be the last time that ever I shall have the power to thank you, as Duchess of Burgundy, before I resign my sovereignty with my hand to another. Believe me, then, that as far as the gratitude of a princess towards a subject can extend, I am grateful to you for all that you have done in my behalf. Believe me, too, that I admire and esteem the great qualities of your mind, and that I will, as far as in me lies, teach my husband"--and she laid a stress upon the word--"to appreciate your talents and your virtues, and to honour and employ them for our common benefit. Take this jewel, I beseech you," she added, "and wear it ever as a token of my gratitude."
"Oh! madam!" exclaimed Albert Maurice, as he advanced to receive the diamond she proffered. He took it slowly and reverentially; but as her hand resigned it, his feelings overpowered him, and pressing the jewel suddenly to his heart, he exclaimed, "I will carry it to my grave!" Then turning, without farther adieu, he threw open the door and quitted the apartment.