c broke out
again in the palace, and the trumpeters on the steps took it up; and a
stir and bustle began. Then out of the porch began to stream a
procession, like a river of colour and jewels, pouring from the foot of
the carved and windowed wall, and eddying in a tumbled pool about the
great gilt carriage;--ushers and footmen and nobles and ladies and pages
in bewildering succession. Anthony pressed his forehead to the glass as
he watched, with little exclamations, and Mary watched him, amused and
interested by his enthusiasm.

And last moved the great canopy bending and swaying under the doorway,
and beneath it, like two gorgeous butterflies, at the sight of whom all
the standing world fell on its knees, came the pale Elizabeth with her
auburn hair, and the brown-faced Mendoza, side by side; and entered the
carriage with the five plumes atop and the caparisoned horses that
stamped and tossed their jingling heads. The yard was already emptying
fast, _en route_ for Chelsea Stairs; and as soon as the two were seated,
the shrill trumpets blew again, and the halberdiers moved off with the
carriage in the midst, the great nobles going before, and the ladies
behind. The later comers mounted as quickly as possible, as their horses
were brought in from the stable entrance, and clattered away, and in five
minutes the yard was empty, except for a few sentries at their posts, and
a servant or two lounging at the doorway; and as Anthony still stared at
the empty pavement and the carpeted steps, far away from the direction of
the Abbey came the clear call of the horns to tell the loyal folk that
the Queen was coming.

It was a great inspiration for Anthony. He had seen world-powers
incarnate below him in the glittering rustling figure of the Queen, and
the dark-eyed courtly Ambassador in his orders and jewels at her side.
There they had sat together in one carriage; the huge fiery realm of the
south, whose very name was redolent with passion and adventure and
boundless wealth; and the little self-contained northern kingdom, now
beginning to stretch its hands, and quiver all along its tingling sinews
and veins with fresh adolescent life. And Anthony knew that he was one of
the cells of this young organism; and that in him as well as in Elizabeth
and this sparkling creature at his side ran the fresh red blood of
England. They were all one in the possession of a common life; and his
heart burned as he thought of it.

After he had p