act as butler to her
adorable Majesty three months syne? She hath no mate in the world save
Mademoiselle Aubert, whom I brought hither to honour and to fame."

"To honour and fame, was it--but by the hill of desperandum, Nuncio,"
said the fool, prodding him with his stick of bells.

"'Desperandum'! I know not Latin; it amazes me," said Lempriere, waving
a lofty hand.

"She--the Huguenottine--was a-mazed also, and from the maze was played
by Obligato."

"How so! how so!" cried the Seigneur, catching at his meaning. "Did
Leicester waylay and siege? 'Sblood, had I known this, I'd have broached
him and swallowed him even on crutches."

"She made him raise the siege, she turned his own guns upon him, and in
the end hath driven him hence." By rough questioning Lempriere got from
the fool by snatches the story of the meeting in the maze, which had
left Leicester standing with the jester's ribboned bells in his hand.
Then the Seigneur got to his feet, and hugged the fool, bubbling with
laughter.

"By all the blood of all the saints, I will give thee burial in my
own grave when all's done," he spluttered; "for there never was such
fooling, never such a wise fool come since Confucius and the Khan. Good
be with you, fool, and thanks be for such a lady. Thanks be also for the
Duke's Daughter. Ah, how she laid Leicester out! She washed him up the
shore like behemoth, and left him gaping."

Buonespoir intervened. "And what shall come of it? What shall be the
end? The Honeyflower lies at anchor--there be three good men in waiting,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and--"

The Seigneur interrupted. "There's little longer waiting. All's well!
Her high hereditary Majesty smiled on me when she gave Leicester conge
and fiery quittance. She hath me in favour, and all shall be well with
Michel and Angele. O fool, fool, fantastic and flavoured fool, sing me
a song of good content, for if this business ends not with crescendo and
bell-ringing, I am no butler to the Queen nor keep good company!"

Seating themselves upon the mossy bank, their backs to the westward sun,
the fool peered into the green shadows and sang with a soft melancholy
an ancient song that another fool had sung to the first Tudor:

"When blows the wind and drives the sleet,
And all the trees droop down;
When all the world is sad,
'tis meet Good company be known:
And in my heart good company
Sits by the f