"This is not business, Highness," urged Basilea.
"Whatever you call it," demanded the Princess, "why did you undertake it?"
"Because M. D'Avaux——" began Basilea, then stopped vexed; she had not meant to mention that name.
"M. D'Avaux," repeated Mary, with a heightened colour; "so he hath a mind to know what I shall do if a certain crisis cometh?"
Both the tone and the words seemed to betray more interest and knowledge than she had yet disclosed, and Basilea was encouraged.
"M. D'Avaux is an acquaintance of mine," she said frankly.
"Ah yes," replied Mary; "you are a Papist, and your husband was a Frenchman. I think that meaneth," she added courteously, "that we cannot see things the same."
"Your Highness doth not desire to behold Europe embroiled in another war!"
Mary answered earnestly—
"There is nothing further from my wishes, and no ambition of mine," she added half wistfully, "would disturb anybody's peace. I bless my God that I know the life I am suited to, and I thank Him that He hath given me the grace to know when I am happy."