t at the feast, having
obtained mine excuse."

Saying this, she bounded from him ere he was aware, and was speedily out
of sight.

He was not a little chagrined at her abrupt departure; yet her very
carelessness, and the open simplicity of her manner, only served to fix
her the more deeply in his thoughts. But a problem of greater difficulty
was to be resolved than how to fix the chameleon hue of woman's
thought. He had a king to pacify--wayward as a child, fickle as a lady's
favour. Unless he could acquit himself by some witty quibble or device,
he might bid adieu to the gaieties over which he presided. The time was
short, and his wit must needs be ambling. As he passed through the
court, revolving many plans for his deliverance, he was aware of a loud
dispute between the two household divinities we have before noticed.
Words were nigh being exchanged for blows, but they were stayed out of
respect to the intruder.

Leaving Sir John to confer with those doughty disputants, let us follow
the king to supper. Space forbids that we describe the wonders of this
feast, and the dainties that were provided--how the swans were roasted,
and the herons eaten cold--how pies were baked of the red deer, and the
wild boar, not a whit too small for the reception of any moderate-sized
Christian subject of his Majesty's. There were turkeys, quails, poults,
and plovers; but of pheasants only two, and one for the king. The
greatest triumph, however, was reserved for the confections; an
artificial hen was here served of puff-paste; her wings displayed,
sitting upon eggs of the same materials. In each of these was enclosed a
fat lark roasted, and seasoned with pepper and ambergris.

They sat down, but the master of the ceremonies was still absent;
whereupon the king, much distempered thereby, called out to Sir George
Goring--

"Our mummer and our dancer being departed--whilk thing, aforetime, we
did maist righteously inhibit--thinkest thou, he may not henceforth
eschew our service?"

"My liege, your Grace's commands were to seek him a full hour agone, but
the scared deer hath taken to covert. He was, peradventure, afraid of
the hunting, and liketh his own neck better than the sport. He careth
not, methinks, to show his face that turns big back on his comrade's
peril."

"May be," said Buckingham, "your Majesty's favour is not so winsome as a
lady's cheek. I would wager my cap, Jack Finett hath found a smoother
tongue, but a harder s