of his Countess. Yet the consciousness of this was what at that moment lay nearest to his heart; and although he trusted in great measure to the very positive counter-orders which he had sent by Lambourne, it was his purpose to set out for Cumnor-Place in person, as soon as he s'ould be dismissed from the presence of the Queen, who, he concluded, would presently leave Kenilworth.

But the Earl reckoned without his host. It is true, his presence and his communications were gall and wormwood to his once partial mistress. But, barred from every other and more direct mode of revenge, the Queen perceived that she gave her false suitor torture by these inquiries, and dwelt on them for that reason, no more regarding the pain which she herself experienced, than the savage cares for the searing of his own hands with the hot pincers with which he tears the flesh of his captive enemy.

At length, however, the haughty lord, like a deer that turns to bay, gave intimation that his patience was failing. « Madam, » he said, « I have been much to blame more than even your just resentment has expressed. Yet, Madam, let me say, that my guilt, if it be unpardonable, was not unprovoked; and that if beauty and condescending dignity could seduce the frail heart of a human being, I might plead both, as the causes of my concealing this secret from your Majesty. »

The Queen was so much struck by this reply,

which Leicester took care should be heard by no one but herself, that she was for the moment silenced, and the Earl had the temerity to pursue his advantage. « Your Grace, who has pardoned so much, will excuse my throwing myself on your royal mercy for those expressions, which were yester-morning accounted but a light offence. »

The Queen fixed her eyes on him while she replied, «< Now, by heaven, my lord, thy effrontery passes the bounds of belief, as well as patience! But it shall avail thee nothing. - What, ho! my lords, come all and hear the news My Lord of Leicester's stolen marriage has cost me a husband, and England a King. His lordship is patriarchal in his tastes one wife at a time was insufficient, and he designed us the honour of his left hand. Now, is not this too insolent,

that I could not grace him with a few marks of court-favour, but he must presume to think my hand and crown at his disposal? You, however, think better of me; and I can pity this ambitious man, as I could a child, whose bubble of soap has burst between his hands. We go to the presence-chamber - My Lord of Leicester, we command your close attendance

on us. >>>

All was eager expectation in the hall, and what was the universal astonishment, when the Queen said to those next her, « The revels of Kenilworth are not yet exhausted, my lords and

There was an universal expression of surprise.

« It is true, on our royal word,» said the Queen; he hath kept this a secret even from us, that he might surprise us with it at this very place and time. I see you are dying of curiosity to know the happy bride — It is Amy Robsart, the same who, to make up the May-game yesterday, figured in the pageant as the wife of his servant Varney. »

« For God's sake, Madam,» said the Earl, approaching her with a mixture of humility, vexation, and shame in his countenance, and speaking so low as to be heard by no one else, «take my head, as you threatened in your anger, and spare me these taunts! Urge not a falling man - tread not on a crushed worm. »

« A worm, my lord? » said the Queen, in the same tone; « nay, a snake is the nobler reptile, and the more exact similitude-the frozen snake you wot of, which was warmed in a certain bo

som »

"

« For your own sake-for mine, madam, » said the Earl —«< while there is yet some reason left in me »—————

Speak aloud, my lord,» said Elizabeth, « and at farther distance, so please you-your breath thaws our ruff. What have you to ask of us? »

«Permission, » said the unfortunate Earl, hum. bly, « to travel to Cumnor-Place. »

« To fetch home your bride belike? — Why, ay, — that is but right-for, as we have heard, she is indifferently cared for there. But, my lord,

you go not in person we have counted upon passing certain days in this Castle of Kenilworth, and it were slight courtesy to leave us without a landlord during our residence here. Under your favour, we cannot think to incur such disgrace in the eyes of our subjects. Tressilian shall go to Cumnor-Place instead of you, and with him some gentleman who hath been sworn of our chamber, lest my Lord of Leicester should be again jealous of his old rival.-Whom wouldst thou have to be in commission with thee, Tressilian ? »

Tressilian, with humble deference, suggested the name of Raleigh.

me,

Why, ay,» said the Queen; « so 'God ha' thou hast made a good choice. He is a young knight besides, and to deliver a lady from prison is an appropriate first adventure.-CumnorPlace is little better than a prison, you are to know, my lords and ladies. Besides, there are certain faitours there whom we would willingly have in fast keeping. You will furnish them, Master Secretary, with the warrant necessary to secure the bodies of Richard Varney and the foreign Alasco, dead or alive. Take a sufficient force with you, gentlemen-bring the lady here in all honour-lose no time, and God be with you. »

They bowed, and left the presence.

Who shall describe how the rest of that day way spent at Kenilworth? The Queen, who seemed to have remained there, for the sole purpose of mortifying and taunting the Earl of Leicester, shewed herself as skilful in that female art of vengeance, as she was in the science of wisely governing her people. The train of state soon caught the signal, and, as he walked among his own splendid preparations, the Lord of Kenilworth, in his own Castle, already experienced the lot of a disgraced courtier, in the slight regard and cold manners of alienated friends, and the ill-concealed triumph of avowed and open enemies. Sussex, from his natural military frankness of disposition, Burleigh and Walsingham, from their penetrating and prospective sagacity, and some of the ladies, from the compassion of their sex, were the only persons in the crowded court who retained towards him the countenance they had borne in the morning.

So much had Leicester been accustomed to consider court-favour as the principal object of his life, that all other sensations were, for the time, lost in the agony which his haughty spirit felt at the succession of petty insults and studied neglects to which he had been subjected; but when he was retired to his own chamber for the night, that long fair tress of hair which had once secured Amy's letter, fell under his observation, and, with the influence of a countercharm, awakened his heart to nobler and more