tremble
not, sweetheart, I am not chafed with thee. I will vex thy father no
more. Better thou shouldst go without a trinket or two than deprive me
of the light of that silly little face of thine so long as they will
leave me that sunbeam."

She stooped and kissed the drooping brow, and Susan could not but feel
as if the voice of nature were indeed speaking.

A few words of apology in her character of mother for the maiden's
abrupt proceeding were met by the Queen most graciously. "Spare thy
words, good madam. We understand and reverence Mr. Talbot's point of
honour. Would that all who approached us had held his scruples!"

Perhaps Mary was after this more distant and dignified towards the
matron, but especially tender and caressing towards the maiden, as if
to make up by kindness for the absence of little gifts.

Storms, however, were brewing without. Lady Shrewsbury made open
complaints of her husband having become one of Mary's many victims,
representing herself as an injured wife driven out of her house. She
actually in her rage carried the complaint to Queen Elizabeth, who sent
down two commissioners to inquire into the matter. They sat in the
castle hall, and examined all the attendants, including Richard and his
wife. The investigation was extremely painful and distressing, but it
was proved that nothing could have been more correct and guarded than
the whole intercourse between the Earl and his prisoner. If he had
erred, it had been on the side of caution and severity, though he had
always preserved the courteous demeanour of a gentleman, and had been
rejoiced to permit whatever indulgences could be granted. If there had
been any transgressions of the strict rules, they had been made by the
Countess herself and her daughters in the days of their intimacy with
the Queen; and the aspersions on the unfortunate Earl were, it was soon
evident, merely due to the violent and unscrupulous tongues of the
Countess and her daughter Mary. No wonder that Lord Shrewsbury wrote
letters in which he termed the lady "his wicked and malicious wife,"
and expressed his conviction that his son Gilbert's mind had been
perverted by her daughter.

The indignation of the captive Queen was fully equal to his, as one
after another of her little court returned and was made to detail the
points on which he or she had been interrogated. Susan found her
pacing up and down the floor like a caged tigress, her cap and veil
thr