She gazed fixedly and with agony at the lessening shore, as the Harry stood off with its head towards the German Sea, and a pause, filled up by sighs, ensued.
"You still refuse to restore me to liberty?" she said, while her tears fell fast again.
"Absolutely—once and for all."
"For the first time in my life, I have received a refusal from a gentleman," said Margaret, proudly and bitterly.
"Alas! that this unfortunate should be me!"
"But it matters not; we are still in the Scottish seas, and a time may come when you will be forced to listen to me."
"Listen! oh, Lady Margaret! if you know the secret which is hushed in my heart!" replied Howard, who felt her reproaches deeply. "I do beseech you to pardon me," he continued, in a sad and earnest manner, "for I obey the dictates of a cold and politic king, not those of my conscience or my heart."
"A brave English gentleman should be above being the tool even of a king."
"Madam, I would deem myself the most ungallant of Englishmen if I refused you anything that lay within my power to grant, but liberty must lie with Henry himself."
"Liberty! but I am not an English subject. Oh, Rothesay, Rothesay!" continued Margaret, giving way to a fresh burst of grief; "what will be your thoughts on finding that I am gone?"