stess's incessant tongue, the walk would have been a
refreshment. Madame de Salmonnet had been transported from home so
young that she was far more French than Scottish; she was a small woman
full of activity and zeal of all kinds, though perhaps most of all for
her pot au feu. She was busied about her domestic affairs morning,
noon, and night, and never ceased chattering the whole time, till
Cicely began to regard the sound like the clack of the mill at
Bridgefield. Yet, talker as she was, she was a safe woman, and never
had been known to betray secrets. Indeed, much more of her
conversation consisted of speculations on the tenderness of the
poultry, or the freshness of the fish, than of anything that went much
deeper. She did, however, spend much time in describing the habits and
customs of the pensioners at Soissons; the maigre food they had to eat;
their tricks upon the elder and graver nuns, and a good deal besides
that was amusing at first, but which became rather wearisome, and made
Cicely wonder what either of her mothers would have thought of it.

The excuse for all this was to enable the maiden to make her appearance
before Queen Elizabeth as freshly brought from Soissons by her mother's
danger. Mary herself had suggested this, as removing all danger from
the Talbots, and as making it easier for the French Embassy to claim
and protect Cis herself; and M. de Chateauneuf had so far acquiesced as
to desire Madame de Salmonnet to see whether the young lady could be
prepared to assume the character before eyes that would not be over
qualified to judge. Cis, however, had always been passive when the
proposal was made, and the more she heard from Madame de Salmonnet, the
more averse she was to it. The only consideration that seemed to her
in its favour was the avoidance of implicating her foster-father, but a
Sunday morning spent with him removed the scruple.

"I know I cannot feign," she said. "They all used to laugh at me at
Chartley for being too much of the downright mastiff to act a part."

"I am right glad to hear it," said Richard.

"Moreover," added Cicely, "if I did try to turn my words with the
Scottish or French ring, I wot that the sight of the Queen's Majesty
and my anxiety would drive out from me all I should strive to remember,
and I should falter and utter mere folly; and if she saw I was
deceiving her, there would be no hope at all. Nay, how could I ask God
Almighty to bless my doing wit