Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

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ninny the mnn sh* 1 VPS, for I know my cliikl -will love no one
wl; >ole, true, :.nd lifting t'o: IUT alliance. I return
tooonrtintl rn> tin 11 1 nu, jour aus-.vrr,
for, s ,ve as t!ic> uce:';i!ed s ator of my daughter, with your
I r > -s, Apswi'll Court is no fi tin ^ p uce for yon."
.liter had quittej the apartment, the Lady
Con ta ce was summoned thither, and remained for a co sid-
'i't me alone -uitli her father. Meanwhile Walter spent
day wandering restlessly anout anil counting the hours
he could we ver-l:Kf, hi; put all iiis trust in Constance. "She shall
rry the man she loves," rang in his ears. "If she loves
Hie, he
Lad not
cannot refuse, he
much uncertainty.
cannot part us;" and Walter
He believed Constance, as
t!io type of all womanly pe-feotion, incapable of trilling;
Waiter's nature, like ull true ones, was lull of trust in
!'S.
hort autumn evening was closing in, the gorgeous hues
inset y I floated in the sky, and on the d .-tant horizon
ri rig, when Walter and Constance met beneath
moon w.. .
. of
the trees of Apswell Court. What needs it to lin-
"Dear Walter, my father is very firm ; I fear me, if you
will not comply with his conditions "- she hesitated.
"lint, s-.vi'L-t Constance, he has not, the i, told you all; you
would not honor rne with your love if I were a recreant to
honor and faith? "
:t, Walter, listen," said Constance, sweetly. "Iknowthe
court, and you do not ;
there are hundreds there Catholics in
heart, though Protestants i.i outward seeming. Nay, am I not
nearly that myself, for your eloquence has well n.gh converted
11.6."
" Has it, d arest ? " answered he ; "then surely there is no
reason why we should not cast our lot toge her, and seek a land
wh. re we in y worship God in peace, and
days
wait for brighter
to dawn over this '
unhappy land.
" Alas !" said she sadly, " I know my father too well ; his
word once pas cd, w 11 not be broken. And consider, Walter,
a i ruin it would br ngon him. The queen would
banish him at once, perhaps do
it is we who must submit."
even worse. Oh, no, Walter,
"
But Constance cannot ask me to stoop to dishonor?"
"Dearest, it is not dishonor. Surely tie prisoner who
would be
feigned in order t > outwit his jailer, and e caped,
fully jus i nl; and E.iglaiul now is one great pri on, where
we dare ot say or do as we list, but 1*8 pleasures the queen.
Waiter, you haw; such wi d notions," coll inued she looking
up at him, " fit only for the times of the crusades ;
this is what half the world does now, why should you
scrap
" f it were lawful, my Constance, we nhould not see half
the nobility t f E, gland ex nl fr. m tl.e court, fined, im-
1
,
prison; , ami in constant siifu ring. Men are not so in love
with all this nu not f.-h.dly to ( scape fi
.d, is btill ever new, as the world goes on. They
U each other, and in the first b.iss of the acknowledgment
the t' lure was forgotten.
"
Coustauc , my own," said Walter at last, "have you seen
; the earl, ud do ou know wuat . passed between him and me
miming? "
"Yes, "she whisp red, drawing closer to her lover; "he
"
told me all, and bade me conie hither this e ening.
" He cannot mean the cruelty he threatened," said Walter ;
" he will not part us now, my Constance ? "
Constance never entertained the thought of 1 :iug her Ir.er.
She was flushe . , with t.iun t ph, he had pe fo.med er fathc. s
behest re i ted Wa ter's arguments, and she did not doubt
the next day would bring him a captive to her feet, a d she
pictured o herse.f i
* br.ght i ions how the Bar i ess de Lis e
would coinpo t herself in tlw proud court i f E izabeth, how
rapidly Wa ter wou M advance in favor and tru t, ad
ow,
through >t all, she would be the s ar that led him on, the be=t
cherished of th it noble he rt.
Tlie light in her eye, and the smile th t sat n her lips re-
assured her father that victory was secure, so that though
Walter was missed from the supper-table, he did not feel
anxious.
No, Walter did not sup that night, neither when the weary
inhabitants of the house sought their beds did he follow the
examp'e. Constance slept soundly, smiling in her sleep.
On the ground, fighting with his anguish, lay Walter de
Lisle ; close beside was the invisible tempter, busy at his
work.
" But for a little time," he whispered. "Elizabeth must
ere long recognize the rights of her Catholic subjects, nnd
queens do not live forever. Can you not even secretly serve
your arty by your influence ? Deceit, oh ! call it not by that
name, it is not that ; it is understood by everybody in these
clays, when religion has changed w.th eacli Tudor that has sat
on the throne ; it is only a s -luple of yours thus to relinquish
a.l the sweetness of life. What will life b without her ? "
And then, in glowing colors, he painted the future with Constance,
and in hues that made the heart shrink back the
future without her! Walter half yielded; he began to form
he would see Lord Beau-
plans, how much he would give up ;
; vile ag in, would argu it
with him once more. He wo:. Id
show Constance h s meaning more clearly. It was a fearful
but in the darkest hour we are not left
crisis in Waiter's life ;
alone, and if the tempter ere on the one side, an angel, in
glorious army, was on the other, strengthening, pleauing,
bringing back by-gone memories of inuoc nt and happy days.
The eyes of angels and saints were bent upon that loueJy boy,
and in the courts of heaven there went up many a prayer for
him from the white-robed throng. On eaith, too, in the vigil
he was wont to keep, Father Mordaun; prayed i.i the chapel of
the college at Kheims, and impelled by a sudden memory of
the boy h had loved so much, he prayi d especially for Walter.
Walter at last fell asleep, still lying ou the ground, and
he dn am strangely and confusedly. He was back at Ilheimj
in the o