offering abundant thanksgiving because of the sunshine that
flooded it.

When breakfast was over she sat with closed eyes, seeming to hear the
very heart of creation throbbing in every sound, yet listening, listening
intently for something more. For a long time she sat thus, absorbed in
the great orchestra, waiting as it were to take her part in the mighty
symphony that swept its perfect harmonies around her.

It was a very little thing at last that told her her turn had come, so
small a thing, and yet it sent the blood tingling through every vein,
racing and pulsing with headlong impetus like a locked stream suddenly
set free. It was no more than the flight of a startled bird from the tree
above her.

She opened her eyes, quivering from head to foot. Yesterday she had
commanded herself. She had gone to him with outstretched hand and
welcoming smile. To-day she sat quite still. She could not move.

He came to her, stooped over her, then knelt beside her; but he did not
offer to touch her. The sunlight streamed down upon his upturned face.
His eyes were deep and still and passionless.

"You expected me," he said.

She looked down at him. "I have been expecting you for a very long
time," she said.

A flicker that was scarcely a smile crossed his face. "And yet I've come
too soon," he said.

"Why do you say that?" She asked the question almost in spite of herself.
But she had begun to grow calmer. His quietness reassured her.

"Because, my Queen," he said, "the _role_ of jester at court is
obsolete, at least so far as I am concerned, and I haven't managed to
qualify for another."

"Do you want another?" she said.

He turned his eyes away from her. "I want--many things," he said.

She motioned him to the seat beside her. "Tell me what you have been
doing all this time."

"I can't," he said.

But he rose and sat beside her as she desired.

"What under heaven have I been doing?" he said. "I don't know, I guess
I've been something like Nebuchadnezzar when they turned him out to
grass. I've been just--ruminating,"

"Is that all?" There was a curious note of relief in Anne's voice.

His old magnetic smile flashed across his face as he caught it. "That's
all, Queen Anne. It's been monstrous dull. Do you know, I don't think
Heaven intended me for a hermit."

Involuntarily almost she smiled in answer. Her heart was beating quite
steadily again. She was no longer afraid.

"Nebuchadnezzar came to his own aga