and Cicely appeared in her simple black, a great contrast to her
cavalier, who was clad from neck to knee in pale pink satin, quilted,
and with a pearl at each intersection, earrings in his ears, perfumed
and long-fringed gloves in his hand--a perfect specimen of the foppery
of the Court of France. However, he might have been in hodden gray
without her perceiving it. She had the sensation of having plunged
into deep, unknown waters, without rope or plank, and being absolutely
forced to strike out for herself; yet the very urgency of the moment,
acting on her high blood and recent training, made her, outwardly,
perfectly self-possessed and calm. She walked along, holding her head
in the regal manner that was her inheritance, and was so utterly
absorbed in the situation that she saw nothing, and thought only of the
Queen.

This was to be a private audience, and after a minute's demur with the
clerk of the chamber, when Chateauneuf made some explanation, a door
was opened, a curtain withdrawn, and the two ambassadors and the young
lady were admitted to Elizabeth's closet, where she sat alone, in an
arm-chair with a table before her. Cicely's first glance at the Queen
reminded her of the Countess, though the face was older, and had an
intellect and a grandeur latent in it, such as Bess of Hardwicke had
never possessed; but it was haggard and worn, the eyelids red, either
with weeping, or with sleeplessness, and there was an anxious look
about the keen light hazel eyes which was sometimes almost pathetic,
and gave Cicely hope. To the end of her days she never could recollect
how the Queen was arrayed; she saw nothing but the expression in those
falcon eyes, and the strangely sensitive mouth, which bewrayed the
shrewish nose and chin, and the equally inconsistent firmness of the
jaw.

The first glance Cicely encountered was one of utter amazement and
wrath, as the Queen exclaimed, "Whom have you brought hither,
Messieurs?"

Before either could reply, she, whom they had thought a raw, helpless
girl, moved forward, and kneeling before Elizabeth said, "It is I, so
please your Majesty, I, who have availed myself of the introduction of
their Excellencies to lay before your Majesty a letter from my mother,
the Queen of Scots."

Queen Elizabeth made so vehement and incredulous an exclamation of
amazement that Cicely was the more reminded of the Countess, and this
perhaps made her task the easier, and besides, she was not