Her Majesty's arrival, like other great events, was delayed from hour to hour; and it was now announced by a breathless post, that her Majesty being detained by her gracious desire, to receive the homage of her lieges who had thronged to wait upon her at Warwick, it would be the hour of twilight ere she entered the Castle. The intelligence released for a time those who were upon duty, in the immediate expectation of the Queen's appearance, and ready to play their part in the solemnities with which it was to be accompanied ; and Wayland, seeing several horsemen enter the Castle, was not without hopes that Tressilian might be of the number. That he might not lose an opportunity of meeting his patron in case this should be the case, Wayland placed himself in the basecourt of the Castle, near Mortimer's Tower, and watched every one who went or came by the bridge, the extremity of which was protected by that building. Thus stationed, nobody 'could enter or leave the Castle without his observation, and most anxiously did he study the garb and countenance of every horseman, as, passing from under the opposite Gallerytower, they paced slowly, or curvetted, along the tilt-yard, and approached the entrance of the base-court.

But while Wayland gazed thus eagerly to discover him whom he saw not, he was pulled by the sleeve by one by whom he himself would not willingly have been seen.

This was Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, who, like the imp whose name he bore, and whom he had been accoutred in order to resemble, seemed to be ever at the ear of those who thought least of him. Whatever were Wayland's internal feelings, he judged it necessary to express pleasure at their unexpected meeting. «Ha! is it thou, my minikin - my my millar's thumb-my prince of caco-dæmons- my little mouse? >>

Ay, » said Dickie, «< the mouse which gnawed asunder the toils, just when the lion who was caught in them began to look wonderfully like

an ass. >>

« Why, thou little hop-the-gutter, thou art as sharp as vinegar this afternoon. But tell me, how did'st thou come off with yonder jolter-headed giant, whom I left thee with?—I was afraid he would have stripped thy clothes, andso swallowed thee as men peel and eat a roasted ches

nut. »

Had he done so, replied the boy, « he would have had more brains in his guts than ever he had in his noddle. But the giant is a courteous monster, and more grateful than many other folks whom I have helped at a pinch, Master Wayland

Smith. >>

Beshrew me, Flibbertigibbet, »replied Wayland, « but thou art sharper than a Sheffield whittle! I would I knew by what charm you muzzled yonder old bear? »

« Ay, that is in your own manner, » answered

Dickie; « you think fine speeches will pass muster instead of good will. However, as to this honest porter, you must know, that when we presented ourselves at the gate yonder, his brain was overburthened with a speech that had been penned for him, and which proved rather an overmatch for his gigantic faculties. Now this same pithy oration had been indited, like sundry others, by my learned magister, Erasmus Holiday, so I had heard it often enough to remember every line. As soon as I heard him blundering, and floundering like a fish upon dry land, through the first verse, and perceived him at a stand, I knew where the shoe pinched, and helped him to the next word, when he caught me up in an ecstacy, even as you saw but now. I promised, as the price of your admission, to hide me under his bearish gaberdine, and prompt him in the hour of need. I have just now been getting some food in the Castle, and am about to return to him. »

That's right—that's right, my dear Dickie, replied Wayland; « haste thee, for Heaven's sake! else the poor giant will be utterly discon ́solate for want of his dwarfish auxiliary-Away with thee, Dickie. »

« Ay, ay! » answered the boy-« Away with Dickie, when we have got what good of him we can.-You will not let me know the story of this lady, then, who is as much sister of thine as I am? »

Why, what good would it do thee, thou silly elf? » said Wayland.

O, stand ye on these terms? said the boy; well, I care not greatly about the matter, only, I never smell out a secret, but I try to be either at the right or the wrong end of it, and so good evening to ye.

-((

Nay, but Dickie, » said Wayland, who knew the boy's restless and intriguing disposition too well not to fear his enmity stay, my dear Dickie-part not with old friends so shortly!— Thou shalt know all I know of the lady one day.

Ay! said Dickie; « and that day may prove a nigh one.-Fare thee well, Wayland-I will to my large-limbed friend, who, if he have not so sharp a wit as some folks, is at least more grateful for the service which other folks render him. And so again, good evening to ye.»

So saying, he cast a somerset through the gateway, and, lighting on the bridge, ran with the extraordinary agility, which was one of his distinguished attributes, towards the Gallery-tower, and was out of sight in an instant.

I would to God I were safe out of this Castle again!» prayed Wayland, internally; « for now that this mischievous imp has put his finger in the pye, it cannot but prove a mess fit for the devil's eating. I would to Heaven Master Tressilian would appear. »

Tressilian, whom he was thus anxiously expecting in one direction, had returned to Kenilworth by another access. It was indeed true, as Wayland had conjectured, that, in the earlier

part of the day, he had accompanied the Earls on their cavalcade towards Warwick, not without hope that he might in that town hear some tidings of his emissary. Being disappointed in this expectation, and observing Varney amongst Leicester's attendants, seeming as if he had some purpose of advancing to and addressing him, he conceived, in the present circumstances, it was wisest to avoid the interview. He, therefore, left the presence-chamber when the High-Sheriff of the county was in the very midst of his dutiful address to her Majesty; and, mounting his horse, rode back to Kenilworth by a remote and circuitous road, and entered the Castle by a small sally-port in the western wall, at which he was readily admitted as one of the followers of the Earl of Sussex, towards whom Leicester had commanded the utmost courtesy to be exercised. It was thus that he met not Wayland, who was impatiently watching his arrival, and whom he himself would have been, at least, equally desirous to have seen.

Having delivered his horse to the charge of his attendant, he walked for a space in the Pleasance and in the garden, rather to indulge in comparative solitude his own reflexions, than to admire those singular beauties of nature and art which the magnificence of Leicester had there assembled. The greater part of the persons of condition had left the Castle for the present, to form part of the Earl's cavalcade; others, who remained behind, were on the bat