"I think, Master Hartsed, that in the soreness of our hearts we
neglected to inquire sufficiently into the vague story that so angered
you. But it is ended; for a wretched soldier not long since made
confession that he, and he only, was aware of the traitor's intention on
that fatal night, and being sentry, permitted him to pass the outpost.
But I will come with you to Sir Walter Northberry and confirm this
tale."
"I thank you, my lord. Dom Alvarez is doubtless--is doubtless--"
"Dom Alvarez and Sir Walter are no longer friends, since Dom Alvarez,
with his family, has joined the party of the queen. Sir Walter is one
of those who wish for my brother's regency. His betrothal therefore is
at an end."
"Oh, my lord, I never hoped--I never dreamed of hearing this," cried
Harry so ecstatically, that a smile broke over the prince's grave face.
"Well, Master Hartsed, you shall come with me to Lisbon. I offer you
again a place in my household, and doubtless Sir Walter will understand
how matters have sped, especially when you bring him such good news."
"My lord, I can never thank you."
"I ask but this, this precious writing," said Enrique, sorrowfully, as
he laid his hand on the tablet.
"Oh, my lord, is there no hope of a deliverance? I would give the last
drop of my blood to save him!"
Enrique shook his head.
"Sometimes," he answered, "I am thankful that he does not know the
intrigues and the meannesses that have kept him where he is, and all the
light of my life with him. Well," added the prince, as if to himself,
"he is winning a martyr's crown, and I must do that work in the world to
which I am called. But you love him."
And with a smile of exceeding sweetness Enrique rose and held out his
hand to Harry, as if that love was to be a bond between them.
He kept his word. When they came to Lisbon, he took on himself to tell
Sir Walter how completely he considered Master Hartsed's character to be
cleared from the doubt cast on it. He showed Fernando's precious
writing, and prepared the father for the revelation of Catalina's
existence.
And so it came to pass that one day Nella was called away from her
embroidery, and found herself once more in the presence of her old
friend, and heard that he had found her lost sister.
Nella had passed but a dreary time of late; but she was of a hopeful
nature, and certainly had found it hard to regret the quarrels that
parted her from her unwelcome suitor. She had learned too, by the
endurance of a real grief and loss, to be more patient of the rubs and
the dullnesses of daily life, just as Harry had learned patience by the
sight of suffering so far exceeding his own.
Both were changed from the impetuous boy and wilful girl, who had
laughed and disputed little more than a year ago. But their hearts were
unchanged towards each other, and Dom Enrique's influence soon induced
Sir Walter to consent to a union which ensured his daughter's happiness
and gained a faithful adherent to the Regent's cause.
But first there was great joy at hearing of Catalina's safety, and Dom
Enrique aided Sir Walter in offering a ransom large enough to insure her
freedom, and it was sent to Fez by trusty messengers. It came at the
right time; Leila had been bidden to consider herself the promised bride
of the terrible Jussuf, and all her tears and intreaties had availed
nothing.
The princess was tired of her, and when a sum of money large enough to
purchase a ruby on which she had set her fancy was offered, Jussuf
having at the same time fallen into disgrace for neglecting some
trifling order, Leila, with hardly a farewell, scared and half
reluctant, was handed over to the unknown Christians who were to conduct
her to Lisbon.
She was passive in the bewilderment of change and novelty; her few words
of Portuguese failed her utterly; her father's welcoming kiss made her
tremble and hide her face; and though she returned Nella's embraces, and
smiled when her sister dressed her in clothes like her own, and called
her Kate, it was with a bewildered surprise.
Dom Enrique asked to see her, knowing enough of the Moorish tongue to
question her as to all she could tell of his dear brother; and when she
saw him she threw herself at his feet and kissed his hand, with an
abandonment unlike indeed to Nella's stately greeting.
But Enrique won from her the story of the blow she had borne for
Fernando's sake, and thenceforth she was to him an object of entire
admiration and reverence.
In order that she might learn the duties of her religion and accustom
herself a little to the life of a Christian lady, she was sent to a
convent, and there she was far more at home than in her father's house,
learned to speak Portuguese slowly and with difficulty, and practised
with great docility all the observances required of her.
The nuns would fain have kept so apt a pupil altogether, and Catalina
was not unwilling: the outer world was too strange to be a happy one.
But she went home on the occasion of her sister's marriage, and there
her beauty, equal to Nella's, and the soft gentleness that distinguished
her manner from the bride's gayer, franker air, attracted the notice of
Nella's old suitor, Dom Alvarez, whose friendship, in some new turn of
court intrigue, was now sought again by Sir Walter.
Here was Nella's face, without Nella's untamable English spirit, and the
young Portuguese thought the face none the less fair for the deficiency.
He asked Catalina in marriage, being assured, he said, that she was a
good Christian and a gentle lady; and Sir Walter, glad to be quit of
this perplexing maiden, at once agreed.
Catalina showed no unwillingness, and perhaps her gentle passiveness
agreed better with Portuguese notions than ever Nella's lively will
could have done. She was loving and dutiful, and in the love of her
children she was happy, knowing little and caring less for the political
ambitions and intrigues which formed her husband's life, simply
believing that his part must be the right one.
Eleanor Hartsed looked differently on life, and perhaps her clear and
steadfast nature helped to point the right path to her husband in the
troublous days in which their lot was cast, for Harry was too much
attached to Dom Enrique to desert his adopted country, and the great
prince never ceased to mark with a peculiar favour those who had been
among the last to love and serve his beloved brother.
But Catalina never forgot to pray for the captive prince who had taught
her what it was to be a Christian; and Harry Hartsed, amid civil strife
and political passion, cherished to his dying day the precious memory of
having seen in the very flesh the "patience of the saints."