"What further proof do you require of my attachment?" demanded the King, in a tone of vexation which he could not altogether subdue.
"No other proof, save your forbearance on this occasion," answered Georgiana. "Remember, sire, what I told you the other night: I am not a woman of impure imagination—no—nor of depraved character; and I cannot consent to become your mistress, without a mental effort on my part—without wooing on your's. In yielding myself to your Majesty, it will be as a wife who is forced to dispense with the ceremony which alone can make her one in reality; and if your Majesty deem me worth the winning, let me be won by means of those delicate attentions which would be shown in honourable courtship."
"Perdition!" ejaculated the King, who was as much unaccustomed to hear such language as he was to sue at the feet of beauty: "how long will you keep me in this suspense, fair lady?—how long must I endure the tortures of deferred hope? Consider—I love you madly: you are so beautiful—so sweetly beautiful! Oh! to press you in my arms——"
"Pardon me, sire, for daring to interrupt you," said Georgiana; "but if there be nothing save the impulse of the senses in this liaison of ours, your Majesty will soon become wearied of me—and I shrink in horror from the idea of becoming the cast-off mistress of even Royalty itself. Let me seek to engage your affections, as you must endeavour to enchain mine; so that our connexion may be based upon the sentiments and feelings of the heart."
"But I already love you sincerely—devotedly, cruel Georgiana!" cried the King, his eyes greedily running over the outlines of the exquisitely proportioned form of the lady, and the rapid survey exciting his desire almost beyond endurance.
"Not with a love calculated to be permanent," said Georgiana quietly; "and unless I become the object of such an affection, never—never shall I so far forget myself——"
"This is cruel—this is maddening!" exclaimed the King; and he extended his arms towards Lady Hatfield.
"Sire, do not treat me with outrage," she said, rising from the ottoman, and speaking in a dignified manner. "If your Majesty supposed that your sovereign rank would so far dazzle my imagination as to make me throw myself into your arms at the very first words of encouragement which fell from your lips, your Majesty has sadly misunderstood the character of Georgiana Hatfield."
"Be not angry with me, adorable creature!" exclaimed the King: "I love you too much to risk the chance of losing you by any misconduct on my part. Name, therefore, your own terms. Or rather, let me ask whether you will consent to visit me every evening for an hour, and allow us an opportunity to become better acquainted with each other?"
"Now your Majesty speaks in a manner calculated to win my esteem," observed Lady Hatfield, avoiding a direct reply to the question put to her; "and when the esteem of a woman is once secured——"