presented himself; and Humfrey,
pitying the man's distress, said, "This young gentleman is the
Countess's page. He sometimes sees the Queen."

The man eagerly told his story, how his aunt, the widow of a huckster,
had gone on with the trade till she had been cruelly robbed and beaten,
and now was utterly destitute, needing aid to set herself up again.
The Queen of Scots was noted for her beneficent almsgiving, and a few
silver pieces from her would be quite sufficient to replenish her
basket.

Neither boy doubted a moment. Antony had the entree to the presence
chamber, where on this festival night the Earl and Countess were sure
to be with the Queen. He went straightway thither, and trained as he
was in the usages of the place, told his business to the Earl, who was
seated near the Queen. Lord Shrewsbury took the petition from him,
glanced it over, and asked, "Who knew the Guy Norman who sent it?"
Frank Talbot answered for him, that he was a yeoman pricker, and the
Earl permitted the paper to be carried to Mary, watching her carefully
as she read it, when Antony had presented it on one knee.

"Poor woman!" she said, "it is a piteous case. Master Beatoun, hast
thou my purse? Here, Master Babington, wilt thou be the bearer of this
angel for me, since I know that the delight of being the bearer will be
a reward to thy kind heart."

Antony gracefully kissed the fair hand, and ran off joyously with the
Queen's bounty. Little did any one guess what the career thus begun
would bring that fair boy.

CHAPTER V.

THE HUCKSTERING WOMAN.

The huckstering woman, Tibbott by name, was tended by Queen Mary's
apothecary, and in due time was sent off well provided, to the great
fair of York, whence she returned with a basket of needles, pins (such
as they were), bodkins, and the like articles, wherewith to circulate
about Hallamshire, but the gate-wards would not relax their rules so
far as to admit her into the park. She was permitted, however, to
bring her wares to the town of Sheffield, and to Bridgefield, but she
might come no farther.

Thither Antony Babington came down to lay out the crown which had been
given to him on his birthday, and indeed half Master Sniggius's
scholars discovered needs, and came down either to spend, or to give
advice to the happy owners of groats and testers. So far so good; but
the huckster-woman soon made Bridgefield part of her regular rounds,
and took little commissions whic