Mr. Rassendyll's name seldom passed his wife's lips, but
when she spoke of him it was as one speaks of a great man who is
dead, belittling all the living by the shadow of his name. I do
not believe that the king discerned that truth which his wife
spent her days in hiding from him; yet he was uneasy if Rudolf's
name were mentioned by Sapt or myself, and from the queen's mouth
he could not bear it. I have seen him fall into fits of passion
on the mere sound of it; for he lost control of himself on what
seemed slight provocation.
Moved by this disquieting jealousy, he sought continually to
exact from the queen proofs of love and care beyond what most
husbands can boast of, or, in my humble judgment, make good their
right to, always asking of her what in his heart he feared was
not hers to give. Much she did in pity and in duty; but in some
moments, being but human and herself a woman of high temper, she
failed; then the slight rebuff or involuntary coldness was
magnified by a sick man's fancy into great offence or studied
insult, and nothing that she could do would atone for it. Thus
they, who had never in truth come together, drifted yet further
apart; he was alone in his sickness and suspicion, she in her
sorrows and her memories.
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