“You know why I wanted you then, and why I want you now—because you’re the cleverest woman in England, and the most courageous.”
“It took courage to refuse the hand of John Rizzio.”
“It takes more courage in John Rizzio to hear those words from the lips that refused him.”
She laid her hand gently on his arm.
“I am sorry,” she said.
He bent his head and kissed her fingers.
“It is not the Coningsby Venus who is essential to my happiness,” he whispered. “It’s the Doris Diana.”
She laughed.
“That’s the disillusionment of possession.”