chcraft; and when the queen replied that Lady Anne herself had
so chosen, he hit upon the expedient of visiting Warner himself, under
pretence of inspecting his progress,--affected to be struck by the
sickly appearance of the sage, and sending for Sibyll, told her, with
an air of gracious consideration, that her first duty was to attend her
parent; that the queen released her for some days from all court duties;
and that he had given orders to prepare the room adjoining Master
Warner's, and held by Friar Bungey, till that worthy had retired with
his patroness from the court, to which she would for the present remove.

Sibyll, wondering at this novel mark of consideration in the careless
king, yet imputing it to the high value set on her father's labours,
thanked Edward with simple earnestness, and withdrew. In the anteroom
she encountered Hastings, on his way to the king. He started in
surprise, and with a jealous pang: "What! thou, Sibyll! and from the
king's closet! What led thee thither?"

"His grace's command." And too noble for the pleasure of exciting the
distrust that delights frivolous minds as the proof of power, Sibyll
added, "The king has been kindly speaking to me of my father's health."
The courtier's brow cleared; he mused a moment, and said, in a whisper,
"I beseech thee to meet me an hour hence at the eastern rampart."

Since the return of Lord Hastings to the palace there had been an
estrangement and distance in his manner, ill suiting one who enjoyed the
rights of an accepted suitor, and wounding alike to Sibyll's affection
and her pride; but her confidence in his love and truth was entire. Her
admiration for him partook of worship, and she steadily sought to reason
away any causes for alarm by recalling the state cares which pressed
heavily upon him, and whispering to herself that word of "wife," which,
coming in passionate music from those beloved lips, had thrown a mist
over the present, a glory over the future! and in the king's retention
of Adam Warner, despite the Duchess of Bedford's strenuous desire
to carry him off with Friar Bungey, and restore him to his tasks of
alchemist and multiplier, as well as in her own promotion to the queen's
service, Sibyll could not but recognize the influence of her powerful
lover. His tones now were tender, though grave and earnest. Surely, in
the meeting he asked, all not comprehended would be explained. And so,
with a light heart, she passed on.

Hastings s