ept gently for a moment and familiarly rested her face upon the
queen's breast. Then she entwined her white arms about Elizabeth's neck
and turned her glorious eyes up to the queen's face that her Majesty might
behold their wondrous beauty and feel the flattery of the words she was
about to utter.

"He said also," continued Dorothy, "that my eyes in some slight degree
resembled your Majesty's, but he qualified his compliment by telling
me--he did not exactly tell me that my eyes were not so large and
brilliant as your Majesty's, for he was making love to me, and of course
he would not have dared to say that my eyes were not the most perfect on
earth; but he did say that--at least I know that he meant--that my eyes,
while they resembled yours, were hardly so glorious, and--and I am very
jealous of your Majesty. John will be leaving me to worship at your feet."

Elizabeth's eyes were good enough. The French called them "marcassin,"
that is, wild boar's eyes. They were little and sparkling; they were not
luminous and large like Dorothy's, and the girl's flattery was rank.
Elizabeth, however, saw Dorothy's eyes and believed her words rather than
the reply of the lying mirror, and her Majesty's heart was soft from the
girl's kneading. Consider, I pray you, the serpent-like wisdom displayed
by Dorothy's method of attack upon the queen. She did not ask for John's
liberty. She did not seek it. She sought only to place John softly on
Elizabeth's heart. Some natures absorb flattery as the desert sands absorb
the unfrequent rain, and Elizabeth--but I will speak no ill of her. She is
the greatest and the best sovereign England has ever had. May God send to
my beloved country others like her. She had many small shortcomings; but I
have noticed that those persons who spend their evil energies in little
faults have less force left for greater ones. I will show you a mystery:
Little faults are personally more disagreeable and rasping to us than
great ones. Like flying grains of sand upon a windy day, they vex us
constantly. Great faults come like an avalanche, but they come less
frequently, and we often admire their possessor, who sooner or later is
apt to become our destroyer.

"I can hardly tell you," said Dorothy in response to a question by
Elizabeth, "I can hardly tell you why I informed your Majesty of Queen
Mary's presence at Rutland. I did it partly for love of your Majesty and
partly because I was jealous of that white, plain