"What means this saucy intrusion?" said Elizabeth.

Varney, with the air of a man altogether overwhelmed with grief and

confusion, prostrated himself before her feet, exclaiming, "Pardon, my

Liege, pardon!--or at least let your justice avenge itself on me, where

it is due; but spare my noble, my generous, my innocent patron and

master!"

Amy, who was yet kneeling, started up as she saw the man whom she deemed

most odious place himself so near her, and was about to fly towards

Leicester, when, checked at once by the uncertainty and even timidity

which his looks had reassumed as soon as the appearance of his confidant

seemed to open a new scene, she hung back, and uttering a faint scream,

besought of her Majesty to cause her to be imprisoned in the lowest

dungeon of the Castle--to deal with her as the worst of criminals--"but

spare," she exclaimed, "my sight and hearing what will destroy the

little judgment I have left--the sight of that unutterable and most

shameless villain!"

"And why, sweetheart?" said the Queen, moved by a new impulse; "what

hath he, this false knight, since such thou accountest him, done to

thee?"

"Oh, worse than sorrow, madam, and worse than injury--he has sown

dissension where most there should be peace. I shall go mad if I look

longer on him!"

"Beshrew me, but I think thou art distraught already," answered the

Queen.--"My Lord Hunsdon, look to this poor distressed young woman, and

let her be safely bestowed, and in honest keeping, till we require her

to be forthcoming."

Two or three of the ladies in attendance, either moved by compassion

for a creature so interesting, or by some other motive, offered their

services to look after her; but the Queen briefly answered, "Ladies,

under favour, no. You have all (give God thanks) sharp ears and nimble

tongues; our kinsman Hunsdon has ears of the dullest, and a tongue

somewhat rough, but yet of the slowest.--Hunsdon, look to it that none

have speech of her."

"By Our Lady," said Hunsdon, taking in his strong, sinewy arms the

fading and almost swooning form of Amy, "she is a lovely child! and

though a rough nurse, your Grace hath given her a kind one. She is safe

with me as one of my own ladybirds of daughters."

So saying, he carried her off; unresistingly and almost unconsciously,

his war-worn locks and long, grey beard mingling with her light-brown

tresses, as her head reclined on his strong, square shoulder. The Queen

followed him with her eye. She had already, with that self-command which

forms so necessary a part of a Sovereign's accomplishments, suppressed

every appearance of agitation, and seemed as if she desired to banish

all traces of her burst of passion from the recollection of those who

had witnessed it. "My Lord of Hunsdon says well," she observed, "he is

indeed but a rough nurse for so tender a babe."




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