Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/201

Rh him no child had ever loved a father as she loved him, and that words were too weak to tell the greatness of her love.

When she stopped speaking, Lear showed her the limits of the kingdom he had deeded to her and the Duke of Albany, a most generous gift; and then he turned to Regan, who stood by, eager to speak, and asked her which she thought loved him best. Regan told him she was of the same blood as Goneril, her sister, and she loved him not a whit less; that even her sister’s declarations of affection did not come up to the measure of her feelings; and that her only earthly happiness was in her father’s love.

Lear then gave her an ample portion for her dowry, and called forth his youngest daughter, whom in his heart he loved best of the three. Now Cordelia had listened with amazement at the ease with which her sisters had declared the most sacred feelings of the heart so loudly, and at the extraordinary affection they professed. “What love have they left to give their husbands,” she thought. within herself, “if they love their father all?” While she was thus thinking, Lear asked this youngest and best-loved child what she had to say. She looked at him with her clear, truthful eyes, and answered, “Nothing.”

Lear looked at her in wonder, and repeated “Nothing?”