"Yet her Highness may justly ask why the King lingers in Spain." Wogan
saw a look, a smile of triumph, brighten for an instant on the angry
face.

"It is no doubt a humiliation to the Princess Clementina," said Maria
Vittoria, with a great deal of satisfaction. "But she must learn to bear
humiliation like other women."

"But she will reject the marriage," urged Wogan.

"The fool!" cried Maria Vittoria, and she laughed almost gaily. "I will
not budge an inch to persuade her to it. Let her fancy what she will and
weep over it! I hate her; therefore she is out of my thought."

Wogan was not blind to the inspiriting effect of his argument upon Maria
Vittoria. He had, however, foreseen it, and he continued
imperturbably,-"No doubt you think me something of a fool, too, to advance so unlikely
a plea. But if her Highness rejects the marriage, who suffers? Her
Highness's name is already widely praised for her endurance, her
constancy. If, after all, at the last moment she scornfully rejects that
for which she has so stoutly ventured, whose name, whose cause, will
suffer most? It will be one more misfortune, one more disaster, to add
to the crushing weight under which the King labours. There will be
ignominy; who will be dwarfed by it? There will be laughter; whom will
it souse? There will be scandal; who will be splashed by it? The
Princess or the King?"