“You are wrong,” she said, with a tremor in her voice.  “I love you as no man was ever loved by any woman, far beyond all that all words can say, and I shall love you till I die, and after that, for ever—­even if I can never be your wife.  I love you as no one loves in these days, and when I say that it is as you love me, I mean a thousand fold for every word.  I am not the child you left nearly two years ago.  I am a woman now, for I have thought and seen much since then—­and I love you better and more than then.  God knows, there is enough to see and to learn in this court—­that should be hidden deep from honest women’s sight!  You and I shall have a heaven on this earth, if God grants that we may be joined together—­for I will live for you, and serve you, and smooth all trouble out of your way—­and ask nothing of you but your love.  And if we cannot marry, then I will live for you in my heart, and serve you with my soul, and pray Heaven that harm may never touch you.  I will pray so fervently that God must hear me.  And so will you pray for me, as you would fight for me, if you could.  Remember, if you will, that when you are in battle for Spain, your sword is drawn for Spain’s honour, and for the honour of every Christian Spanish woman that lives—­and for mine, too!”

The words pleased him, and his free hand was suddenly clenched.

“You would make cowards fight like wolves, if you could speak to them like that!” he said.

“I am not speaking to cowards,” she answered, with a loving smile.  “I am speaking to the man I love, to the best and bravest and truest man that breathes—­and not to Don John of Austria, the victorious leader, but to you, my heart’s love, my life, my all, to you who are good and brave and true to me, as no man ever was to any woman.  No—­” she laughed happily, and there were tears in her eyes—­“no, there are no words for such love as ours.”

“May I be all you would have me, and much more,” he said fervently, and his voice shook in the short speech.

“I am giving you all I have, because it is not belief, it is certainty.  I know you are all that I say you are, and more too.  And I trust you, as you mean it, and as you need my trust to save me.  Take me where you will.  Hide me in your own room if you must, and bolt and bar it if need be.  I shall be as safe with you as I should be with my mother in heaven.  I put my hands between yours.”

Again he heard her sweet low laughter, full of joy and trust, and she laid her hands together between his and looked into his eyes, straight and clear.  Then she spoke softly and solemnly.

“Into your hands I put my life, and my faith, and my maiden honour, trusting them all to you alone in this world, as I trust them to God.”

Don John held her hands tightly for a moment, still looking into her eyes as if he could see her soul there, giving itself to his keeping.  But he swore no great oath, and made no long speech; for a man who has led men to deeds of glory, and against whom no dishonourable thing was ever breathed, knows that his word is good.