Purple eBooks

"Kate, Kate, what saidst
the false lover; tell me every word. Did he ask thee for espousal?"
Now Mistress Penwick faltered and flushed, for she dare not tell him
who her suitor was and thought if she told him well what was said,
he would not press her for name, and 'twas meet she should tell him
truthfully. She feared his hot temper not a little, for she had heard
that one time he locked Lady Constance in the tower for two whole days
for telling him a falsehood.
"Aye, he asked me to espouse him."
"And what didst thou say?"
"I said him nay, 'twas too soon to wed, 'twould be wiser to speak a
year hence."
"And what answer did he make thee?"
"He said the king's sister, Princess Mary, when but ten married
William, Prince of Orange, and--"
"And what?" said Cedric, leaning forward his hand upon his sword, a
curse between his white teeth and a line of light from between
his half-closed lids like the flashing of a two-edged sword.
"What--'sdeath?" And Kate trembled forth--
"And fifteen was none too soon to wed.


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