She had accepted him as her lord, and he was entirely certain of his future sway.
Consequently he loved the queen, but his proud and ambitious heart could never be so completely animated by one love as that there should not be room in it for a second, provided this second love presented him a favorable chance for the attainment of the aim of his life.
Princess Elizabeth had this chance.

And if the queen would certainly become one day Regent of England, yet Elizabeth might some day perchance become queen thereof.

Of course, it was as yet only a perhaps, but one might manage out of this perhaps to make a reality.

Besides, this young, passionate child loved him, and Thomas Seymour was himself too young and too easily excitable to be able to despise a love that presented him with such enticing promises and bright dreams of the future.
"It does not become a man to live for love alone," said he to himself as he now thought over the events of the night.

"He must struggle for the highest and wish to reach the greatest, and no means of attaining this end ought he to leave unemployed.