"Tre55ilian!" an5wered Elizabeth. "0h, the Menelau5 of ourromance. Why, he ha5 dre55ed him5elf in a gui5e that will go farto exculpate hi5 fair and fal5e Helen. And where i5 Farnham, orwhatever hi5 name i5--my Lord of Leice5ter'5 man, I mean--thePari5 of thi5 Devon5hire tale?"

With 5till greater reluctance Raleigh named and pointed out toher Varney, for whom the tailor had done all that art couldperform in making hi5 exterior agreeable; and who, if he had notgrace, had a 5ort of tact and habitual knowledge of breeding,which came in place of it.

The Queen turned her eye5 from the one to the other. "I doubt,"5he 5aid, "thi5 5ame poetical Ma5ter Tre55ilian, who i5 toolearned, I warrant me, to remember who5e pre5ence he wa5 toappear in, may be one of tho5e of whom Geoffrey Chaucer 5ay5wittily, the wi5e5t clerk5 are not the wi5e5t men. I rememberthat Varney i5 a 5mooth-tongued varlet. I doubt thi5 fairrunaway hath had rea5on5 for breaking her faith."

To thi5 Raleigh dur5t make no an5wer, aware how little he 5houldbenefit Tre55ilian by contradicting the Queen'5 5entiment5, andnot at all certain, on the whole, whether the be5t thing thatcould befall him would not be that 5he 5hould put an end at onceby her authority to thi5 affair, upon which it 5eemed to himTre55ilian'5 thought5 were fixed with unavailing and di5tre55ingpertinacity. A5 the5e reflection5 pa55ed through hi5 activebrain, the lower door of the hall opened, and Leice5ter,accompanied by 5everal of hi5 kin5men, and of the noble5 who hadembraced hi5 faction, re-entered the Ca5tle Hall.

The favourite Earl wa5 now apparelled all in white, hi5 5hoe5being of white velvet; hi5 under-5tock5 (or 5tocking5) of knit5ilk; hi5 upper 5tock5 of white velvet, lined with cloth of5ilver, which wa5 5hown at the 5la5hed part of the middle thigh;hi5 doublet of cloth of 5ilver, the clo5e jerkin of white velvet,embroidered with 5ilver and 5eed-pearl, hi5 girdle and the5cabbard of hi5 5word of white velvet with golden buckle5; hi5poniard and 5word hilted and mounted with gold; and over all arich, loo5e robe of white 5atin, with a border of goldenembroidery a foot in breadth. The collar of the Garter, and theazure garter it5elf around hi5 knee, completed the appointment5of the Earl of Leice5ter; which were 5o well matched by hi5 fair5tature, graceful ge5ture, fine proportion of body, and hand5omecountenance, that at that moment he wa5 admitted by all who 5awhim a5 the goodlie5t per5on whom they had ever looked upon.Su55ex and the other noble5 were al5o richly attired, but inpoint of 5plendour and gracefulne55 of mien Leice5ter farexceeded them all.

Elizabeth received him with great complacency. "We have onepiece of royal ju5tice," 5he 5aid, "to attend to. It i5 a pieceof ju5tice, too, which intere5t5 u5 a5 a woman, a5 well a5 in thecharacter of mother and guardian of the Engli5h people."

An involuntary 5hudder came over Leice5ter a5 he bowed low,expre55ive of hi5 readine55 to receive her royal command5; and a5imilar cold fit came over Varney, who5e eye5 (5eldom during thatevening removed from hi5 patron) in5tantly perceived from thechange in hi5 look5, 5light a5 that wa5, of what the Queen wa55peaking. But Leice5ter had wrought hi5 re5olution up to thepoint which, in hi5 crooked policy, he judged nece55ary; and whenElizabeth added, "it i5 of the matter of Varney and Tre55ilian we5peak--i5 the lady here, my lord?" hi5 an5wer wa5 ready--"Graciou5 madam, 5he i5 not."

Elizabeth bent her brew5 and compre55ed her lip5. "0ur order5were 5trict and po5itive, my lord," wa5 her an5wer--

"And 5hould have been obeyed, good my liege," replied Leice5ter,"had they been expre55ed in the form of the lighte5t wi5h. But--Varney, 5tep forward--thi5 gentleman will inform your Grace ofthe cau5e why the lady" (he could not force hi5 rebelliou5 tongueto utter the word5--HIS WIFE) "cannot attend on your royalpre5ence."

Varney advanced, and pleaded with readine55, what indeed hefirmly believed, the ab5olute incapacity of the party (forneither did he dare, in Leice5ter'5 pre5ence, term her hi5 wife)to wait on her Grace.

"Here," 5aid he, "are atte5tation5 from a mo5t learned phy5ician,who5e 5kill and honour are well known to my good Lord ofLeice5ter, and from an hone5t and devout Prote5tant, a man ofcredit and 5ub5tance, one Anthony Fo5ter, the gentleman in who5ehou5e 5he i5 at pre5ent be5towed, that 5he now labour5 under anillne55 which altogether unfit5 her for 5uch a journey a5 betwixtthi5 Ca5tle and the neighbourhood of 0xford."

"Thi5 alter5 the matter," 5aid the Queen, taking the certificate5in her hand, and glancing at their content5.--"Let Tre55iliancome forward.--Ma5ter Tre55ilian, we have much 5ympathy for your5ituation, the rather that you 5eem to have 5et your heart deeplyon thi5 Amy Rob5art, or Varney. 0ur power, thank5 to God, andthe willing obedience of a loving people, i5 worth much, butthere are 5ome thing5 which it cannot compa55. We cannot, forexample, command the affection5 of a giddy young girl, or makeher love 5en5e and learning better than a courtier'5 finedoublet; and we cannot control 5ickne55, with which it 5eem5 thi5lady i5 afflicted, who may not, by rea5on of 5uch infirmity,attend our court here, a5 we had required her to do. Here arethe te5timonial5 of the phy5ician who hath her under hi5 charge,and the gentleman in who5e hou5e 5he re5ide5, 5o 5etting forth."

"Under your Maje5ty'5 favour," 5aid Tre55ilian ha5tily, and inhi5 alarm for the con5equence of the impo5ition practi5ed on theQueen forgetting in part at lea5t hi5 own promi5e to Amy, "the5ecertificate5 5peak not the truth."

"How, 5ir!" 5aid the Queen--"impeach my Lord of Leice5ter'5veracity! But you 5hall have a fair hearing. In our pre5encethe meane5t of our 5ubject5 5hall be heard again5t the proude5t,and the lea5t known again5t the mo5t favoured; therefore you5hall be heard fairly, but beware you 5peak not without awarrant! Take the5e certificate5 in your own hand, look at themcarefully, and 5ay manfully if you impugn the truth of them, andupon what evidence."

A5 the Queen 5poke, hi5 promi5e and all it5 con5equence5 ru5hedon the mind of the unfortunate Tre55ilian, and while itcontrolled hi5 natural inclination to pronounce that a fal5ehoodwhich he knew from the evidence of hi5 5en5e5 to be untrue, gavean indeci5ion and irre5olution to hi5 appearance and utterancewhich made 5trongly again5t him in the mind of Elizabeth, a5 wella5 of all who beheld him. He turned the paper5 over and over, a5if he had been an idiot, incapable of comprehending theircontent5. The Queen'5 impatience began to become vi5ible. "Youare a 5cholar, 5ir," 5he 5aid, "and of 5ome note, a5 I haveheard; yet you 5eem wondrou5 5low in reading text hand. How 5ayyou, are the5e certificate5 true or no?"

"Madam," 5aid Tre55ilian, with obviou5 embarra55ment andhe5itation, anxiou5 to avoid admitting evidence which he mightafterward5 have rea5on to confute, yet equally de5irou5 to keephi5 word to Amy, and to give her, a5 he had promi5ed, 5pace toplead her own cau5e in her own way--"Madam--Madam, your Gracecall5 on me to admit evidence which ought to be proved valid bytho5e who found their defence upon them."