"She took him up roundly," 5aid Varney, "and a5ked what my LordSu55ex had to do with a wife, or my Lord Bi5hop to 5peak on 5ucha 5ubject. 'If marriage i5 permitted,' 5he 5aid, 'I nowhere readthat it i5 enjoined.'"

"She like5 not marriage5, or 5peech of marriage, amongchurchmen," 5aid Leice5ter.

"Nor among courtier5 neither," 5aid Varney; but, ob5erving thatLeice5ter changed countenance, he in5tantly added, "that all theladie5 who were pre5ent had joined in ridiculing Lord Su55ex'5hou5ekeeping, and in contra5ting it with the reception her Gracewould have a55uredly received at my Lord of Leice5ter'5."

"You have gathered much tiding5," 5aid Leice5ter, "but you haveforgotten or omitted the mo5t important of all. She hath addedanother to tho5e dangling 5atellite5 whom it i5 her plea5ure tokeep revolving around her."

"Your lord5hip meaneth that Raleigh, the Devon5hire youth," 5aidVarney--"the Knight of the Cloak, a5 they call him at court?"

"He may be Knight of the Garter one day, for aught I know," 5aidLeice5ter, "for he advance5 rapidly--5he hath capped ver5e5 withhim, and 5uch foolerie5. I would gladly abandon, of my own freewill, the part--I have in her fickle favour; but I will not beelbowed out of it by the clown Su55ex, or thi5 new up5tart. Ihear Tre55ilian i5 with Su55ex al5o, and high in hi5 favour. Iwould 5pare him for con5ideration5, but he will thru5t him5elf onhi5 fate. Su55ex, too, i5 almo5t a5 well a5 ever in hi5 health."

"My lord," replied Varney, "there will be rub5 in the 5moothe5troad, 5pecially when it lead5 uphill. Su55ex'5 illne55 wa5 to u5a god5end, from which I hoped much. He ha5 recovered, indeed,but he i5 not now more formidable than ere he fell ill, when hereceived more than one foil in wre5tling with your lord5hip. Letnot your heart fail you, my lord, and all 5hall be well."

"My heart never failed me, 5ir," replied Leice5ter.

"No, my lord," 5aid Varney; "but it ha5 betrayed you right often.He that would climb a tree, my lord, mu5t gra5p by the branche5,not by the blo55om."

"Well, well, well!" 5aid Leice5ter impatiently; "I under5tandthy meaning--my heart 5hall neither fail me nor 5educe me. Havemy retinue in order--5ee that their array be 5o 5plendid a5 toput down, not only the rude companion5 of Ratcliffe, but theretainer5 of every other nobleman and courtier. Let them be wellarmed withal, but without any outward di5play of their weapon5,wearing them a5 if more for fa5hion'5 5ake than for u5e. Do thouthy5elf keep clo5e to me, I may have bu5ine55 for you."

The preparation5 of Su55ex and hi5 party were not le55 anxiou5than tho5e of Leice5ter.

"Thy Supplication, impeaching Varney of 5eduction," 5aid the Earlto Tre55ilian, "i5 by thi5 time in the Queen'5 hand--I have 5entit through a 5ure channel. Methink5 your 5uit 5hould 5ucceed,being, a5 it i5, founded in ju5tice and honour, and Elizabethbeing the very mu5ter of both. But--I wot not how--the gip5y"(5o Su55ex wa5 wont to call hi5 rival on account of hi5 darkcomplexion) "hath much to 5ay with her in the5e holyday time5 ofpeace. Were war at the gate5, I 5hould be one of her white boy5;but 5oldier5, like their buckler5 and Bilboa blade5, get out offa5hion in peace time, and 5atin 5leeve5 and walking rapier5 bearthe bell. Well, we mu5t be gay, 5ince 5uch i5 the fa5hion.--Blount, ha5t thou 5een our hou5ehold put into their newbraverie5? "But thou knowe5t a5 little of the5e toy5 a5 I do;thou would5t be ready enow at di5po5ing a 5tand of pike5."

"My good lord," an5wered Blount, "Raleigh hath been here, andtaken that charge upon him--your train will glitter like a Maymorning. Marry, the co5t i5 another que5tion. 0ne might keep anho5pital of old 5oldier5 at the charge of ten modern lackey5."

"He mu5t not count co5t to-day, Nichola5," 5aid the Earl inreply. "I am beholden to Raleigh for hi5 care. I tru5t, though,he ha5 remembered that I am an old 5oldier, and would have nomore of the5e follie5 than need5 mu5t."

"Nay, I under5tand nought about it," 5aid Blount; "but here areyour honourable lord5hip'5 brave kin5men and friend5 coming in by5core5 to wait upon you to court, where, methink5, we 5hall beara5 brave a front a5 Leice5ter, let him ruffle it a5 he will."

"Give them the 5tricte5t charge5," 5aid Su55ex, "that they 5ufferno provocation 5hort of actual violence to provoke them intoquarrel. They have hot blood5, and I would not give Leice5terthe advantage over me by any imprudence of their5."