“Accept me?” Robert echoed, gleefully. “I have so overcome her that she will woo me in season and out of season. I shall boast the most loving, patient spouse in Christendom. Mark, now, how my bird flies to a call. Come hither, rusticity.”
He beckoned, and Perpetua moved slowly towards him, outwardly calm. “Do you take me for your lord and master?” he asked her.
“Ay,” Perpetua answered.
Lycabetta looked at the girl’s grave face in amaze. “This is a wonder,” she said; “she seems spellbound.”
Robert nodded joyously. “Why, I have cast the glamour upon her, and she will listen to me as the fish listened to St. Anthony. Will you swear to obey me, maiden?”
Again Perpetua answered, “Ay.”
“Are you in league with the devil?” Lycabetta asked, astonished at the girl’s acquiescence.
Robert grinned impishly. “I will not sell my secret. I suppose you do not care how I conquer the maid, so long as I do conquer her.”
“So long as you do what the King wishes,” Lycabetta answered, contemptuously.