And thou,said Walter,art turned coward of the sudden.Ihave seen thee face half a score of shag-headed Irish kerns to thy own share of them;and now thou wouldst blink and go back to shun the frown of a fair lady!At this moment the gates opened,and ushers began to issue forth in array,preceded and flanked by the band of Gentlemen Pensioners.After this,amid a crowd of lords and ladies,yet so disposed around her that she could see and be seen on all sides,came Elizabeth herself,then in the prime of womanhood,and in the full glow of what in a Sovereign was called beauty,and who would in the lowest rank of life have been truly judged a noble figure,joined to a striking and commanding physiognomy.She leant on the arm of Lord Hunsdon,whose relation to her by her mother's side often procured him such distinguished marks of Elizabeth's intimacy.
The young cavalier we have so often mentioned had probably never yet approached so near the person of his Sovereign,and he pressed forward as far as the line of warders permitted,in order to avail himself of the present opportunity.His companion,on the contrary,cursing his imprudence,kept pulling him backwards,till Walter shook him off impatiently,and letting his rich cloak drop carelessly from one shoulder;a natural action,which served,however,to display to the best advantage his well-proportioned person.Unbonneting at the same time,he fixed his eager gaze on the Queen's approach,with a mixture of respectful curiosity and modest yet ardent admiration,which suited so well with his fine features that the warders,struck with his rich attire and noble countenance,suffered him to approach the ground over which the Queen was to pass,somewhat closer than was permitted to ordinary spectators.Thus the adventurous youth stood full in Elizabeth's eye--an eye never indifferent to the admiration which she deservedly excited among her subjects,or to the fair proportions of external form which chanced to distinguish any of her courtiers.
Accordingly,she fixed her keen glance on the youth,as she approached the place where he stood,with a look in which surprise at his boldness seemed to be unmingled with resentment,while a trifling accident happened which attracted her attention towards him yet more strongly.The night had been rainy,and just where the young gentleman stood a small quantity of mud interrupted the Queen's passage.As she hesitated to pass on,the gallant,throwing his cloak from his shoulders,laid it on the miry spot,so as to ensure her stepping over it dry-shod.
Elizabeth looked at the young man,who accompanied this act of devoted courtesy with a profound reverence,and a blush that overspread his whole countenance.The Queen was confused,and blushed in her turn,nodded her head,hastily passed on,and embarked in her barge without saying a word.
Come along,Sir Coxcomb,said Blount;your gay cloak will need the brush to-day,I wot.Nay,if you had meant to make a footcloth of your mantle,better have kept Tracy's old drab-de-bure,which despises all colours.
This cloak,said the youth,taking it up and folding it,shall never be brushed while in my possession.And that will not be long,if you learn not a little more economy;we shall have you in CUERPO soon,as the Spaniard says.Their discourse was here interrupted by one of the band of Pensioners.
I was sent,said he,after looking at them attentively,to a gentleman who hath no cloak,or a muddy one.--You,sir,I think,addressing the younger cavalier,are the man;you will please to follow me.He is in attendance on me,said Blount--on me,the noble Earl of Sussex's master of horse.I have nothing to say to that,answered the messenger;my orders are directly from her Majesty,and concern this gentleman only.So saying,he walked away,followed by Walter,leaving the others behind,Blount's eyes almost starting from his head with the excess of his astonishment.At length he gave vent to it in an exclamation,Who the good jere would have thought this!And shaking his head with a mysterious air,he walked to his own boat,embarked,and returned to Deptford.
The young cavalier was in the meanwhile guided to the water-side by the Pensioner,who showed him considerable respect;a circumstance which,to persons in his situation,may be considered as an augury of no small consequence.He ushered him into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend the Queen's barge,which was already proceeding;up the river,with the advantage of that flood-tide of which,in the course of their descent,Blount had complained to his associates.
The two rowers used their oars with such expedition at the signal of the Gentleman Pensioner,that they very soon brought their little skiff under the stern of the Queen's boat,where she sat beneath an awning,attended by two or three ladies,and the nobles of her household.She looked more than once at the wherry in which the young adventurer was seated,spoke to those around her,and seemed to laugh.At length one of the attendants,by the Queen's order apparently,made a sign for the wherry to come alongside,and the young man was desired to step from his own skiff into the Queen's barge,which he performed with graceful agility at the fore part of the boat,and was brought aft to the Queen's presence,the wherry at the same time dropping into the rear.The youth underwent the gaze of Majesty,not the less gracefully that his self-possession was mingled with embarrassment.The muddled cloak still hung upon his arm,and formed the natural topic with which the Queen introduced the conversation.
You have this day spoiled a gay mantle in our behalf,young man.
We thank you for your service,though the manner of offering it was unusual,and something bold.In a sovereign's need,answered the youth,it is each liege-man's duty to be bold.