g thousands. The cry of the trumpets rang out again high and
shattering, as the trumpeters and heralds in rich coat-armour came next;
and Anthony looked a moment, fascinated by the lions and lilies, and the
brightness of the eloquent horns, before he turned his head to see the
Lord Mayor himself, mounted on a great stately white horse, that needed
no management, while his rider bore on a cushion the sceptre. Ah! she was
coming near now. The two saw nothing of the next rider who carried aloft
the glittering Sword of State, for their eyes were fixed on the six
plumed heads of the horses, with grooms and footmen in cassock-coats and
venetian hose, and the great gilt open carriage behind that swayed and
jolted over the cobbles. She was here; she was here; and the loyal crowds
yelled and surged to and fro, and cloths and handkerchiefs flapped and
waved, and caps tossed up and down, as at last the great creaking
carriage came under the window.

This is what they saw in it.

A figure of extraordinary dignity, sitting upright and stiff like a pagan
idol, dressed in a magnificent and fantastic purple robe, with a great
double ruff, like a huge collar, behind her head; a long taper waist,
voluminous skirts spread all over the cushions, embroidered with curious
figures and creatures. Over her shoulders, but opened in front so as to
show the ropes of pearls and the blaze of jewels on the stomacher, was a
purple velvet mantle lined with ermine, with pearls sewn into it here and
there. Set far back on her head, over a pile of reddish-yellow hair drawn
tightly back from the forehead, was a hat with curled brims, elaborately
embroidered, with the jewelled outline of a little crown in front, and a
high feather topping all.

And her face--a long oval, pale and transparent in complexion, with a
sharp chin, and a high forehead; high arched eyebrows, auburn, but a
little darker than her hair; her mouth was small, rising at the corners,
with thin curved lips tightly shut; and her eyes, which were clear in
colour, looked incessantly about her with great liveliness and
good-humour.

There was something overpowering to these two children who looked, too
awed to cheer, in this formidable figure in the barbaric dress, the
gorgeous climax of a gorgeous pageant. Apart from the physical splendour,
this solitary glittering creature represented so much--it was the
incarnate genius of the laughing, brutal, wanton English nation, that sat
here in th