I have said once and forever that I am yours with every bow-string of my army and every florin in my coffers." "Ah! here is indeed a mirror of chivalry," said Don Pedro.

"I think, Sir Fernando, since the prince's bounty is stretched so far, that we may make further use of his gracious goodness to the extent of fifty thousand crowns.

Good Sir William Felton, here, will doubtless settle the matter with you." The stout old English counsellor looked somewhat blank at this prompt acceptance of his master's bounty.
"If it please you, sire," he said, "the public funds are at their lowest, seeing that I have paid twelve thousand men of the companies, and the new taxes--the hearth-tax and the wine-tax--not yet come in.

If you could wait until the promised help from England comes----" "Nay, nay, my sweet cousin," cried Don Pedro.

"Had we known that your own coffers were so low, or that this sorry sum could have weighed one way or the other, we had been loth indeed----" "Enough, sire, enough!" said the prince, flushing with vexation.