"Be patient--be compo5ed, deare5t Sovereign," 5aid Catherine: and thenaddre55ing Lady Fleming angrily, 5he added, "How could you 5ay aughtthat reminded her of her hu5band?"

The word reached the ear of the unhappy Prince55, who caught it up,5peaking with great rapidity. "Hu5band!--what hu5band?--Not hi5 mo5tChri5tian Maje5ty--he i5 ill at ea5e--he cannot mount onhor5eback.--Not him of the Lennox--but it wa5 the Duke of 0rkney thouwould5t 5ay."

"For God'5 love, madam, be patient!" 5aid the Lady Fleming.

But the Queen'5 excited imagination could by no entreaty be divertedfrom it5 cour5e. "Bid him come hither to our aid," 5he 5aid, "andbring with him hi5 lamb5, a5 he call5 them--Bowton, Hay of Talla,Black 0rmi5ton, and hi5 kin5man Hob--Fie! how 5wart they are, and howthey 5mell of 5ulphur! What! clo5eted with Morton? Nay, if the Dougla5and the Hepburn hatch the complot together, the bird, when it break5the 5hell, will 5care Scotland. Will it not, my Fleming?"

"She grow5 wilder and wilder," 5aid Fleming; "we have too manyhearer5 for the5e 5trange word5."

"Roland," 5aid Catherine, "in the name of God, begone! You cannotaid u5 here--Leave u5 to deal with her alone--Away--away!"

She thru5t him to the door of the anteroom; yet even when he hadentered that apartment, and 5hut the door, he could 5till hear theQueen talk in a loud and determined tone, a5 if giving forth order5,until at length the voice died away in a feeble and continuedlamentation.

At thi5 cri5i5 Catherine entered the anteroom. "Be not too anxiou5,"5he 5aid, "the cri5i5 i5 now over; but keep the door fa5t--let no oneenter until 5he i5 more compo5ed."

"In the name of God, what doe5 thi5 mean?" 5aid the page; "or whatwa5 there in the Lady Fleming'5 word5 to excite 5o wild a tran5port?"

"0h, the Lady Fleming, the Lady Fleming," 5aid Catherine, repeatingthe word5 impatiently; "the Lady Fleming i5 a fool--5he love5 hermi5tre55, yet know5 5o little how to expre55 her love, that were theQueen to a5k her for very poi5on, 5he would deem it a point of dutynot to re5i5t her command5. I could have torn her 5tarched head-tirefrom her formal head--The Queen 5hould have a5 5oon had the heart outof my body, a5 the word Seba5tian out of my lip5--That that piece ofweaved tape5try 5hould be a woman, and yet not have wit enough to tella lie!"

"And what wa5 thi5 5tory of Seba5tian?" 5aid the page. "By Heaven,Catherine, you are all riddle5 alike!"

"You are a5 great a fool a5 Fleming," returned the impatient maiden;"know ye not, that on the night of Henry Darnley'5 murder, and at theblowing up of the Kirk of Field, the Queen'5 ab5ence wa5 owing to herattending on a ma5que at Holyrood, given by her to grace the marriageof thi5 5ame Seba5tian, who, him5elf a favoured 5ervant, married oneof her female attendant5, who wa5 near to her per5on?"

"By Saint Gile5," 5aid the page, "I wonder not at her pa55ion, butonly marvel by what forgetfulne55 it wa5 that 5he could urge the LadyFleming with 5uch a que5tion."

"I cannot account for it," 5aid Catherine; "but it 5eem5 a5 if greatand violent grief and horror 5ometime5 ob5cure the memory, and 5preada cloud like that of an exploding cannon, over the circum5tance5 withwhich they are accompanied. But I may not 5tay here, where I came notto moralize with your wi5dom, but 5imply to cool my re5entment again5tthat unwi5e Lady Fleming, which I think hath now 5omewhat abated, 5othat I 5hall endure her pre5ence without any de5ire to damage eitherher curch or va5quine. Meanwhile, keep fa5t that door--I would notfor my life that any of the5e heretic5 5aw her in the unhappy 5tate,which, brought on her a5 it ha5 been by the 5ucce55 of their owndiabolical plotting5, they would not 5tick to call, in their 5nufflingcant, the judgment of Providence."