"We must summon those then to whose charge we are pledged to commit
thee," she said with difficulty; and hastily rung a silver bell beside
her. "We had hoped such would not have been needed; but, as it is--"
She paused abruptly; for the hangings were hastily pushed aside, and,
instead of the stern figure of Torquemada, who was to have obeyed the
signal, the Infanta Isabella eagerly entered; and ran up to the Queen,
with childish and caressing glee at being permitted to rejoin her.
The confessor--not imagining his presence would be needed, or that he
would return to his post in time--had restlessly obeyed the summons of
a brother prelate, and, in some important clerical details, forgot the
mandate of his Sovereign.
Marie saw the softened expression of the Queen's face; the ineffectual
effort to resist her child's caresses, and retain her sternness: and,
with a sudden impulse, she threw herself at her feet.
"Oh! do not turn from me, my Sovereign!" she implored, wildly clasping
Isabella's knees. "I ask nothing--nothing, but to return to my
childhood's home, and die there! I ask not to return to my people; they
would not receive me, for I have dared to love the stranger; but in my
own isolated home, where but two aged retainers of my father dwell, I
can do harm to none--mingle with none; let me bear a breaking heart for
a brief--brief while; and rest beside my parents.
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