he!" cried she with a sweet smile. Then she said suddenly, and in a
low quick voice: "You say I must trust no one here but you. Now, then,
I will give you a proof of my confidence. Await me in the green
summer-house at twelve o'clock to-night. You must be my attendant on a
dangerous excursion. Have you courage, John?"

"Courage to lay down my life for you, queen!"

"Come, then, but bring your weapon with you."

"At your command! and is that your only order for to-day?"

"That is all, John! only," added she, with hesitation and a slight
blush, "only, if you perchance meet Earl Sudley, you may say to him that
I charged you to greet him in my name."

"Oh!" sighed John Hey wood, sadly.

"He has to-day saved my life, John," said she, as if excusing herself.
"It becomes me well, then, to be grateful to him."

And giving him a friendly nod, she stepped into the porch of the castle.

"Now let anybody say again, that chance is not the most mischievous and
spiteful of all devils!" muttered John Heywood. "This devil, chance,
throws in the queen's way the very person she ought most to avoid; and
she must be, as in duty bound, very grateful to a lover. Oh, oh, so
he has saved her life? But who knows whether he may not be one day the
cause of her losing it!"

He dropped his head gloomily upon his breast, when suddenly he heard
behind him a low voice calling his name; and as he turned, he saw the
young Princess Elizabeth hastening toward him with a hurried step. She
was at that moment very beautiful. Her eyes gleamed with the fire of
passion; her cheeks glowed; and about her crimson lips there played a
gentle, happy smile. She wore, according to the fashion of the time,
a close-fitting high-necked dress, which showed off to perfection the
delicate lines of her slender and youthful form, while the wide standing
collar concealed the somewhat too great length of her neck, and made her
ruddy, as yet almost childish face stand out as it were from a pedestal.
On either side of her high, thoughtful brow, fell, in luxurious
profusion, light flaxen curls; her head was covered with a black velvet
cap, from which a white feather drooped to her shoulders.

She was altogether a charming and lovely apparition, full of
nobleness and grace, full of fire and energy; and yet, in spite of her
youthfulness, not wanting in a certain grandeur and dignity. Elizabeth,
though still almost a child, and frequently bowed and humbled by
misfortune, ye