A faint denial only served to stimulate the young monarch, Gonsalva refused, and chided, and jested, but yielded at last. At parting, the coy beauty would not utter a confession of regret, though she suffered the sentiment to appear in her swimming eyes. Sebastian was perhaps more enamoured by this conduct: the difficulty of subduing so haughty or so delicate a heart, gave additional pleasure to the attempt; and the spirit of domination then mixed with the tender desires of love. He returned to Crato with his golden prize, believing himself a conqueror when he was in reality a slave. The vivacity of Sebastian’s feelings were in proportion to their novelty: he loved for the first time, therefore he loved with his whole soul; and the idea of being beloved in return, _for his own sake_, finished the enchantment. During their rapid journey to Lisbon, he disclosed the romantic secret to his cousin. Though Don Antonio was evidently too discreet for the indulgence of ill-timed raillery or unpalatable rebuke, the King perceived that his imprudent attachment surprized and shocked him: the prior’s florid complexion changed frequently, and he spoke with a trepidation unusual to him. Donna Gonsalva’s comparatively inferior birth, was in his opinion an insurmountable objection; but he forbore to press other arguments upon his sovereign, whose suddenly inflamed looks warned him to beware. Having by a strong effort conquered his excessive surprize, which secret circumstances rendered almost insufferable, he gradually acquiesced in the passionate reasoning of his kinsman, and began to assist him with plans for the completion of these new wishes. To facilitate the King’s interviews with Donna Gonsalva, and yet conceal the affair from his court, it was requisite that some plausible excuse should be found for his visiting Crato again: Antonio therefore offered to return almost immediately to his priory, feign sickness there, and intreat the society of his gracious cousin. This offer was accepted: Don Antonio scarcely refreshed himself in Lisbon ere he set out once more for Crato: the King remained behind, and for the first time in his life gave audience to his ministers with a divided mind, after dispatching the various state affairs for which he had returned to his capital, he waited impatiently the prior’s summons, and shortly receiving it, hastened, with a very small train, to the hunting lodge.