Then the metallic voice began again, with a little tremor in it,
like the ground-swell after a storm; and she sang the verse through in
which she had been interrupted:
"Why thus, my love, so kind bespeak
Sweet eye, sweet lip, sweet blushing cheek--
Yet not a heart to save my pain;
O Venus, take thy gifts again!
Make not so fair to cause our moan,
Or make a heart that's like your own."
The lute rippled away into silence.
* * * *
Mary rose quietly to her feet and nodded to Anthony.
"Come back, you two!" cried the Queen.
Mary stepped straight through, the lad behind her.
"Well," said the Queen, turning to them and showing her black teeth in a
smile. "Have I kept my word?"
"Ah! your Grace," said Mary, curtseying to the ground, "you have made
some simple loving hearts very happy to-day--I do not mean Sir Francis'."
The Queen laughed.
"Come here, child," she said, holding out her glittering hand, "down
here," and Mary sank down on the Queen's footstool, and leaned against
her knee like a child, smiling up into her face; while Elizabeth put her
hand under her chin and kissed her twice on the forehead.
"There, there," she said caressingly, "have I made amends? Am I a hard
mistress?"
And she threw her left hand round the girl's neck and began to play with
the diamond pendant in her ear, and to stroke the smooth curve of her
cheek with her flashing fingers.
Anthony, a little on one side, stood watching and wondering at this silky
tigress who raged so fiercely just now.
Pages:
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411