did he require my love. He needed a nurse, not a wife. He had given
me his name as a father gives his to a daughter; and I was his
daughter, a true, faithful, and obedient daughter, who joyfully
fulfilled her duty and tended him till his death."

"And after his death, child? Years have elapsed since then, Kate.
Tell me, and I conjure you, tell me the truth, the simple, plain
truth! After the death of your husband, then even, did you never
love?"

He gazed with visible anxiety, with breathless expectation, deep
into her eyes; but she did not drop them.

"Sire," said she, with a charming smile, "till a few weeks past, I
have often mourned over myself; and it seemed to me that I must, in
the desperation of my singular and cold nature, lay open my breast,
in order to search there for the heart, which, senseless and cold,
had never betrayed its existence by its stronger beating. Oh, sire,
I was full of trouble about myself; and in my foolish rashness, I
accused Heaven of having robbed me of the noblest feeling and the
fairest privilege of any woman--the capacity of loving."

"Till the past few weeks, did you say, Kate?" asked the king,
breathless with emotion.

"Yes, sire, until the day on which you, for the first time,
graciously afforded me the happiness of speaking with me."

The king uttered a low cry, and drew Catharine, with impetuous
vehemence, into his arms.