FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  
advice! Why doth he not leave me in peace? I will go to the Lady Priscilla were it only to show him that I regard not his words." Nevertheless she could not but wonder why any lady should take such a sudden interest in her, and a slight misgiving lurked in her heart as she approached the Round Tower, entered its portals, and made her way to the Lady Priscilla's bower. The lady was lying on a couch surrounded by her tire women. "So, my pretty lad," she said with a careless glance, "thou hast come. Didst thou not have enough of flattery? Gramercy! hath it not always been true that sugar would catch more flies than vinegar?" "What mean you?" stammered Francis, her sensitive nature becoming aware of the change in the lady's manner from the caressing sweetness of the morning to the mocking air of the moment. "Didst think thy beauty had ensnared me?" queried the lady quizzically. "It hath. As the yellow metal of the earth hath always thrown a spell over men so the red gold of thy hair hath fascinated me. I dote on thy locks, my fair page. Ay! so much so that they and I shall ne'er be parted more. Celeste! Annabelle! have at him!" "Why, why," cried the girl, struggling to rise as the maids set upon her. "My lady! My lady!" But strong as her outdoor life had made her, she was no match for the damsels of the Lady Priscilla. Soon she lay back in her chair bound hand and foot. "No harm is meant thee, master page," remarked the lady as, armed with a huge pair of shears, she approached the maiden. "'Tis only that thy silken tresses have tangled my heart in their meshes until sleep hath fled my pillow. I think on their lustre day and night. And so do I take them to adorn mine own pate. Thinkest thou that they could cover a fairer head?" "Oh, madam," cried the girl tearfully as the shears snipped relentlessly over her head, for her hair had always been a weak point with her. "O, spare my hair, I entreat!" "Fie, sir page! Thou dost shame thy manhood. True, thou art yet guiltless of beard, yet still thou shouldst not play the woman." "But, madam, I shall report this to the queen. What think you she will say when she knows that one of her ladies was guilty of this outrage?" "She would not listen to thee, malapert. Should she do so, I would say that Priscilla Rutland knew no peace until she could emulate in her own locks the regal color that crowned her august mistress' brow. That she would stoop to do anything
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Priscilla

 

shears

 

approached

 
pillow
 
lustre
 

tangled

 
remarked
 

damsels

 

master

 

silken


tresses
 

meshes

 

maiden

 

relentlessly

 

outrage

 
guilty
 

listen

 

malapert

 

ladies

 
report

Should

 
Rutland
 

mistress

 

august

 

crowned

 

emulate

 

shouldst

 
outdoor
 

snipped

 

tearfully


Thinkest

 

fairer

 

entreat

 

guiltless

 

manhood

 

pretty

 

surrounded

 

careless

 

glance

 

Gramercy


flattery

 

Nevertheless

 

regard

 

sudden

 

entered

 

portals

 
interest
 

slight

 

misgiving

 

lurked