The lute rippled away into silence.
Mary rose quietly to her feet and nodded to Anthony.
"Come back, you two!" cried the Queen.
Mary stepped straight through, the lad behind her.
"Well," said the Queen, turning to them and showing her black teeth in a smile. "Have I kept my word?"
"Ah! your Grace," said Mary, curtseying to the ground, "you have made some simple loving hearts very happy to-day--I do not mean Sir Francis"."
The Queen laughed.
"Come here, child," she said, holding out her glittering hand, "down here," and Mary sank down on the Queen"s footstool, and leaned against her knee like a child, smiling up into her face; while Elizabeth put her hand under her chin and kissed her twice on the forehead.
"There, there," she said caressingly, "have I made amends? Am I a hard mistress?"
And she threw her left hand round the girl"s neck and began to play with the diamond pendant in her ear, and to stroke the smooth curve of her cheek with her flashing fingers.
Anthony, a little on one side, stood watching and wondering at this silky tigress who raged so fiercely just now.
Elizabeth looked up in a moment and saw him.
"Why, here is the tall lad here still," she said, "eyeing us as if we were monsters. Have you never yet seen two maidens loving one another, that you stare so with your great eyes? Aha! Minnie; he would like to be sitting where I am--is it not so, sir?"
"I would sooner stand where I am, madam," said Anthony, by a sudden inspiration, "and look upon your Grace."
"Why, he is a courtier already," said the Queen. "You have been giving him lessons, Minnie, you sly girl."
"A loyal heart makes the best courtier, madam," said Mary, taking the Queen"s hand delicately in her own.
"And next to looking upon my Grace, Mr. Norris," said Elizabeth, "what do you best love?"
"Listening to your Grace," said Anthony, promptly.
Mary turned and flashed all her teeth upon him in a smile, and her eyes danced in her head.
Elizabeth laughed outright.
"He is an apt pupil," she said to Mary.
"--You mean the lute, sir?" she added.
"I mean your Grace"s voice, madam. I had forgotten the lute."
"Ah, a little clumsy!" said the Queen; "not so true a thrust as the others."
"It was not for lack of good-will," said poor Anthony blushing a little.
He felt in a kind of dream, fencing in language with this strange mighty creature in scarlet and pearls, who sat up in her chair and darted remarks at him, as with a rapier.
"Aha!" said the Queen, "he is blushing! Look, Minnie!" Mary looked at him deliberately. Anthony became scarlet at once; and tried a desperate escape.
"It is your livery, madam," he said.
Mary clapped her hands, and glanced at the Queen.
"Yes, Minnie; he does his mistress credit."
"Yes, your Grace; but he can do other things besides talk," explained Mary.
Anthony felt like a horse being shown off by a skilful dealer, but he was more at his ease too after his blush.
"Extend your mercy, madam," he said, "and bid Mistress Corbet hold her tongue and spare my shame."
"Silence, sir!" said the Queen. "Go on, Minnie; what else can he do?"
"Ah! your Grace, he can hawk. Oh! you should see his peregrine;--named after your Majesty. That shows his loyal heart."
"I am not sure of the compliment," said the Queen; "hawks are fierce creatures."
"It was not for her fierceness," put in Anthony, "that I named her after your Grace."
"Why, then, Mr. Norris?"
"For that she soars so high above all other creatures," said the lad, "and--and that she never stoops but to conquer."
Mary gave a sudden triumphant laugh, and glanced up, and Elizabeth tapped her on the cheek sharply.
"Be still, bad girl," she said. "You must not prompt during the lesson."
And so the talk went on. Anthony really acquitted himself with great credit, considering the extreme strangeness of his position; but such an intense weight had been lifted off his mind by the Queen"s pardon of James Maxwell, that his nature was alight with a kind of intoxication.
All his sharpness, such as it was, rose to the surface; and Mary too was amazed at some of his replies. Elizabeth took it as a matter of course; she was accustomed to this kind of word-fencing; she did not do it very well herself: her royalty gave her many advantages which she often availed herself of; and her address was not to be compared for a moment with that of some of her courtiers and ladies. But still she was amused by this slender honest lad who stood there before her in his graceful splashed dress, and blushed and laughed and parried, and delivered his point with force, even if not with any extraordinary skill.
But at last she began to show signs of weariness; and Mary managed to convey to Anthony that it was time to be off. So he began to make his adieux.
"Well," said Elizabeth, "let us see you at supper to-night; and in the parlours afterwards.--Ah!" she cried, suddenly, "neither of you must say a word as to how your friend was released. It must remain the act of the Council. My name must not appear; Walsingham will see to that, and you must see to it too."
They both promised sincerely.
"Well, then, lad," said Elizabeth, and stretched out her hand; and Mary rose and stood by her. Anthony came up and knelt on the cushion and received the slender scented ringed hand on his own, and kissed it ardently in his grat.i.tude. As he released it, it cuffed him gently on the cheek.
"There, there!" said Elizabeth, "Minnie has taught you too much, it seems."
Anthony backed out of the presence, smiling; and his last glimpse was once more of the great scarlet-clad figure with the slender waist, and the priceless pearls, and the haze of muslin behind that crowned auburn head, and the pale oval face smiling at him with narrow eyes--and all in a glory of sunshine.