em the cheated, slighted--'sdeath! to
think on it is distraction!"

"Be but yourself, my Queen," said Burleigh; "and soar far above a
weakness which no Englishman will ever believe his Elizabeth could have
entertained, unless the violence of her disappointment carries a sad
conviction to his bosom."

"What weakness, my lord?" said Elizabeth haughtily; "would you too
insinuate that the favour in which I held yonder proud traitor derived
its source from aught--" But here she could no longer sustain the proud
tone which she had assumed, and again softened as she said, "But why
should I strive to deceive even thee, my good and wise servant?"

Burleigh stooped to kiss her hand with affection, and--rare in the
annals of courts--a tear of true sympathy dropped from the eye of the
minister on the hand of his Sovereign.

It is probable that the consciousness of possessing this sympathy aided
Elizabeth in supporting her mortification, and suppressing her extreme
resentment; but she was still more moved by fear that her passion should
betray to the public the affront and the disappointment, which, alike
as a woman and a Queen, she was so anxious to conceal. She turned from
Burleigh, and sternly paced the hall till her features had recovered
their usual dignity, and her mien its wonted stateliness of regular
motion.

"Our Sovereign is her noble self once more," whispered Burleigh to
Walsingham; "mark what she does, and take heed you thwart her not."

She then approached Leicester, and said with calmness, "My Lord
Shrewsbury, we discharge you of your prisoner.--My Lord of Leicester,
rise and take up your sword; a quarter of an hour's restraint under
the custody of our Marshal, my lord, is, we think, no high penance for
months of falsehood practised upon us. We will now hear the progress
of this affair." She then seated herself in her chair, and said, "You,
Tressilian, step forward, and say what you know."

Tressilian told his story generously, suppressing as much as he could
what affected Leicester, and saying nothing of their having twice
actually fought together. It is very probable that, in doing so, he did
the Earl good service; for had the Queen at that instant found anything
on account of which she could vent her wrath upon him, without laying
open sentiments of which she was ashamed, it might have fared hard with
him. She paused when Tressilian had finished his tale.

"We will take that Wayland," she said, "into our