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The two sisters had married two brothers, and they saw a good deal of each other until that time; but after Isabel cast in her lot with Wycliffe, very little. The Gospel parted these loving sisters as with a sword; the magnet was received by each at an opposite end. It attracted Isabel, and repelled Constanca.
It was at Hertford, March 1st, 1372, that John of Gaunt and Constanca assumed the titles of King and Queen of Leon and Castilla; and as sixteen months had then elapsed since their own marriage, the probability seems to be that this date marks the marriage of Isabel, and the consent of her bridegroom to the exclusive assumption of queenship by the elder sister.
On the 24th of March, 1394, her aunt Constanca, Duchess of Lancaster, died of the plague at Leicester; in the close of May, of the same disease, the beloved Lollard Queen; and on the first of July her cousin, Mary Countess of Derby.
And that usually meant that in this world she never awoke to her soul's uttermost need, and she was therefore content with the meagre supply she found. So the difference between the sisters was that Constanca slept peacefully while Isabel had awoke. It was because Isabel had awoke, that she was unsatisfied with the round of ritual observances which were all in all to her sister.
The obnoxious, politically-Lollard Duke of Lancaster was shunted out of the way, by being induced to undertake a voyage to Castilla for the recovery of the inheritance of his wife Constanca and her sister Isabel; a statute was passed conferring plenipotentiary powers on "our dearest uncle of Gloucester;" all vacant offices under the Crown were filled with orthodox nominees of the Regent; the Lollard Earl of Suffolk was impeached; a secret meeting was held at Huntingdon, when Gloucester and four other nobles solemnly renounced their allegiance to the King, and declared themselves at liberty to do what was right in their own eyes.
Art come to sit under the cloth of estate in my stead?" Little Maude gazed on her Fairy Queen, and was silent. "What means your Grace, Dona Constanca?" asked Juana. "What is thy name, and wherefore earnest hither?" resumed Constance, still addressing herself to Maude. "Maude," said the child shyly. "Maude! That is a pretty name," pronounced the little Princess.
There had never been but one heart which had loved Isabel, and that heart she pierced as with a sword when she entered her new path on the narrow way. To Constanca of Castilla, the sister who had shared with her their "heritage of woe," this younger sister was inexpressibly dear.
She felt the suggestion highly improper and exceedingly absurd, but she was far too great a courtier to say so. "Come hither!" said Constance gleefully, beckoning to Maude. I would fain talk with thee." Maude glanced at Juana for permission. "Sue thou the Senorita Dona Constanca," was the reply. "Be thou ware not to gainsay her in any thing."
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