"What doth His Highness say?"
"Nothing of that matter—how should he? But he would never take that place that would be dependent on my courtesy—he!" She laughed hysterically. "What doth my lord mean?—what can he think of me? I, Queen, and the Prince overlooked?—am I not his wife? And they know my mind. I told Dr. Burnet, when he meddled in this matter, that I had sworn obedience to the Prince and meant to keep those vows——"
She paused, breathless and very angry; her usual vivacity had changed to a blazing passion that reminded Lady Sunderland of those rare occasions when His late Majesty had been roused.
"My lord meant to serve you," she said.
"To serve me!" repeated Mary, "when he is endeavouring to stir up this division between me and the Prince—making our interests different——"
"You are nearer the throne, Highness——"
Mary interrupted impatiently—
"What is that compared to what the Prince hath done for England? Can they think," she added, with a break in her voice, "that I would have done this—gone against—His Majesty—for a crown—for anything save my duty to my husband? What must he think of me—these miserable intrigues——"
She flung herself into the red brocade chair in front of the cabinet, and caught up the offending letter.
"Yet," she continued, with a flash of triumph, "this will give me a chance to show them—where my duty lieth——"