She gazed fixedly and with agony at the lessening shore, as the _Harry_ stood off with its head towards the German Sea, and a pause, filled up by sighs, ensued. "You still refuse to restore me to liberty?" she said, while her tears fell fast again. "Absolutely--once and for all." "For the first time in my life, I have received a refusal from a gentleman," said Margaret, proudly and bitterly. "Alas! that this unfortunate should be me!" "But it matters not; we are still in the Scottish seas, and a time may come when you will be forced to listen to me." "Listen! oh, Lady Margaret! if you know the secret which is hushed in my heart!" replied Howard, who felt her reproaches deeply. "I do beseech you to pardon me," he continued, in a sad and earnest manner, "for I obey the dictates of a cold and politic king, not those of my conscience or my heart." "A brave English gentleman should be above being the tool even of a king." "Madam, I would deem myself the most ungallant of Englishmen if I refused you anything that lay within my power to grant, but liberty must lie with Henry himself." "Liberty! but I am not an English subject. Oh, Rothesay, Rothesay!" continued Margaret, giving way to a fresh burst of grief; "what will be your thoughts on finding that I am gone?" "Believe me, Lady Margaret," said Howard, in his saddest tone, and yet with somewhat of pique in his manner, "you will recover your love for this boy prince, and King Harry may mate you to some gallant English courtier." "Thou thinkest me very facile," said Margaret, coldly, and with a pout on her pretty mouth. "Nay, lady, I only think you beautiful, gentle, good, and, indeed, most loveable; so I crave pardon if I viewed you like a court lady too. They easily forget an affection; for women, alas! are very facile--yea, variable as wind and weather." "Many women never loved at all, sir." "No woman ever had only one love, gentle lady," replied the seaman, laughing. Again Margaret renewed her entreaties to be set ashore; but she no longer resorted to bribery, for she saw how the noble Howard was stung when she formerly did so. Now she appealed only to his generosity, his courtesy, and his chivalry, and she plied her cause with all the power and eloquence that grief inspired, but plied in vain, though Howard became fearful that he would not be long able to withstand her pleading tongue, when aided by two such speaking eyes; he therefore begged permission to retire on deck, where his presence had long been required, for the south-east wind was increasing to a squall, and sail after sail had to be taken off the three English ships, which were now separated and far apart.