"Am I really the Queen?" cried the young girl, half wild with delight.

"Most assuredly, madam," said Linton, kissing her hand in deep
reverence. "I beg to be first to tender my homage."

"That 's so like him!" cried she, laughing; "but you shall be no officer
of mine. Where 's Charley? I want to make him Master of the Buckhounds,
if there be buckhounds."

"Will you not appoint your ladies first, madam?" said Lady Janet; "or,
are your preferences for the other sex to leave us quite forgotten?"

"Be all of you everything you please," rejoined the childish, merry
voice, "with Charley Frobisher for Master of the Horse."

"Linton for Master of the Revels," said some one.

"Agreed," said she.

"Mr. Cashel had better be First Lord of the Treasury, I suspect," said
Lady Janet, snappishly, "if the Administration is to last."

"And if ye a'ways wear drapery o' this fashion," said Sir Andrew, taking
up the torn fragment of her riding-habit as he spoke, "I maun say that
the Mistress of the Robes will na be a sinecure."

"Will any one tell me what are my powers?" said she, sitting down with
an air of mock dignity.

"Will any one dare to say what they are not?" responded Cashel.

"Have I unlimited command in everything?"

"In everything, madam; I and all mine are at your orders."

"That's what the farce will end in," whispered Lady Janet to Mrs.
Kennyfeck.

"Well, then, to begin. The court will dine with us today--to-morrow we
will hunt in our royal forest; our private band--Have we a private band,
Mr. Linton?"

"Certainly, your Majesty,--so private as to be almost undiscoverable."

"Then our private band will perform in the evening; perhaps, too, we
shall dance. Remember, my Lords and Ladies, we are a young sovereign who
loves pleasure, and that a sad face or a mournful one is treason to our
person. Come forward now, and let us name our household."

While the group gathered around the wild and high-spirited girl, in
whose merry mood even the least-disposed were drawn to participate,
Linton approached Lady Kilgoff, who had seated herself near a window,
and was affecting to arrange a frame of embroidery, on which she rarely
bestowed a moment's labor.

CHAPTER II. LADY KILGOFF AT BAY

I'll make her brew the beverage herself,
With her own fingers stir the cap,
And know't is poison as she drinks it.

Harold.

Had Linton been about to renew an acquaintance with one he had scarcely
kn