"And since, tell me now, you dear little dove, since then, does your
heart throb?"

"Yes, sire, it throbs, oh, it often throbs to bursting! When I hear
your voice, when I behold your countenance, it is as if a cold
tremor rilled through my whole being, and drove all my blood to the
heart. It is as though my heart anticipated your approach before my
eyes discern you. For even before you draw near me, I feel a
peculiar trembling of the heart, and the breath is stifled in my
bosom; then I always know that you are coming, and that your
presence will relieve this peculiar tension of my being. When you
are not by me I think of you, and when I sleep I dream of you. Tell
me, sire, you who know every thing, tell me, know you now whether I
love you?"

"Yes, yes, you love me," cried Henry, to whom this strange and
joyous surprise had imparted youthful vivacity and warmth. "Yes,
Kate, you love me; and if I may trust your dear confession, I am
your first love. Repeat it yet again; you were nothing but a
daughter to Lord Neville?"

"Nothing more, sire!"

"And after him have you had no love?"

"None, sire!"

"And can it be that so happy a marvel has come to pass? and that I
have made, not a widow, but a young maiden, my queen?"