In the Palace of the King | Page 8

together, their hands still linked as if to defend each other from a
common enemy, though the hard man would have given his life for
either of them at any moment since they had come into the world. They
knew it, and trembled.
"You have made me the laughing-stock of the court," he began slowly,
and his voice shook with anger. "What have you to say in your
defence?"
He was speaking to Dolores, and she turned a little pale. There was
something so cruelly hard in his tone and bearing that she drew back a
little, not exactly in bodily fear, but as a brave man may draw back a
step when another suddenly draws a weapon upon him. Instantly Inez
moved forward, raising one white hand in protest, and turning her blind
face to her father's gleaming eyes.
"I am not speaking to you," he said roughly, "but you," he went on,

addressing Dolores, and the heavy table shook under his hand. "What
devil possessed you that you should shame me and yourself, standing at
your window to smile at Don John, as if he were the Espadero at a bull
fight and you the beauty of the ring--with all Madrid there to look on,
from his Majesty the King to the beggar in the road? Have you no
modesty, no shame, no blood that can blush? And if not, have you not
even so much woman's sense as should tell you that you are ruining
your name and mine before the whole world?"
"Father! For the sake of heaven do not say such words--you must not!
You shall not!"
Dolores' face was quite white now, as she gently pushed Inez aside and
faced the angry man. The table was between them.
"Have I said one word more than the very truth?" asked Mendoza.
"Does not the whole court know that you love Don John of Austria--"
"Let the whole world know it!" cried the girl bravely. "Am I ashamed
to love the best and bravest man that breathes?"
"Let the whole world know that you are willing to be his toy, his
plaything--"
"His wife, sir!" Dolores' voice was steady and clear as she interrupted
her father. "His wife," she repeated proudly; "And to-morrow, if you
and the King will not hinder us. God made you my father, but neither
God nor man has given you the right to insult me, and you shall not be
unanswered, so long as I have strength and breath to speak. But for you,
I should be Don John of Austria's wife to-day--and then, then his 'toy,'
his 'plaything'--yes, and his slave and his servant--what you will! I love
him, and I would work for him with my hands, as I would give my
blood and my life for his, if God would grant me that happiness and
grace, since you will not let me be his wife!"
"His wife!" exclaimed Mendoza, with a savage sneer. "His wife--to be
married to-day and cast off to-morrow by a turn of the pen and the
twisting of a word that would prove your marriage void, in order that

Don John may be made the husband of some royal widowed lady, like
Queen Mary of the Scots! His wife!" He laughed bitterly.
"You have an exalted opinion of your King, my father, since you
suppose that he would permit such deeds in Spain!"
Dolores had drawn herself up to her full height as she spoke, and she
remained motionless as she awaited the answer to what she had said. It
was long in coming, though Mendoza's dark eyes met hers
unflinchingly, and his lips moved more than once as if he were about to
speak. She had struck a blow that was hard to parry, and she knew it.
Inez stood beside her, silent and breathing hard as she listened.
"You think that I have nothing to say," he began at last, and his tone
had changed and was more calm. "You are right, perhaps. What should
I say to you, since you have lost all sense of shame and all thought of
respect or obedience? Do you expect that I shall argue with you, and try
to convince you that I am right, instead of forcing you to respect me
and yourself? Thank Heaven, I have never yet questioned my King's
thoughts, nor his motives, nor his supreme right to do whatsoever may
be for the honour and glory of Spain. My life is his, and all I have is his,
to do with it all as he pleases, by grace of his divine right. That is my
creed and my law--and if I have failed to bring you up in the same
belief, I have committed a great sin, and it will be counted