'"Come into my cabinet, child; this is not the place to discuss such matters in. I must hear this tale of yours over again, a little more clearly."
'And I followed her, quite trembling with pent-up eagerness, down-stairs (not this time on the balustrade), and into her own private cabinet. There my story had to be told again, interrupted very often by questions from the Queen, who seemed to listen with a great interest and attention when I repeated what Lady Dalrymple had told me about the troubles that my poor little wife had gone through, and the sickness and danger she was in at present. A really pained look came over her face, and her eyes filled with tears—somewhat to my amazement, I must say. That she was generous and warm-hearted, in spite of her pride and quick temper, and that she could sometimes do extremely kind things in a fit of impulse, I knew well enough; but that she should care so much for Frances' misfortunes as to cry over them, was more than I had dreamed of expecting, now especially, when I had just made her so angry. It was strange that she could feel so much pity for one person, and yet so little for all the rest of the miserable people who were suffering every day from having taken part in the Western Rebellion, some of whom were undergoing far more terrible punishments than the Taunton girls. Scores had been hung or beheaded, one or two even burned, and many shipped off as slaves to the colonies. I wondered whether she had felt as much distress for the Duke of Monmouth; whether she had tried at all to save him, or any of the unhappy prisoners whose friends were daily sending fruitless petitions to the Palace. If she could but have heard each one's story as she had heard mine, she never could have shown so much indifference to their fate. But all could not be saved, of course, whatever her wishes might be. Perhaps that was the reason why she appeared to be careless of all alike.
'In these speculations, however, I was soon interrupted by a tap on the shoulder from the Queen.
'"What are you knitting your brows about, child? Is it that you feel a husband's cares and responsibilities too much for you? Well, it is somewhat hard, I grant, for the troubles of married life to begin thus early. But never fear! I think I may promise to help you out of the present one. I will speak to the King to-night on behalf of this poor little wife of yours."
'How I thanked Her Majesty I really have not the smallest recollection. The boon that I feared was lost entirely, and all through my own folly, was actually gained after all; and I need not describe my relief and delight, which were all the greater for the difficulties I had gone through, and my hopelessness at last of winning it. How glad I felt now! How very, very glad that I had made and kept that resolution—hard as it was at the time—and had spoken out boldly and straightforwardly to the Queen! If I had kept silence, then I should most likely have found no other chance of speaking at all. Yes, I had done what was right, and that is the one deed which one never can regret. Not a very original remark, I am quite aware of that; but I never felt the truth of it so strongly in my life as then, and I have never forgotten it since.
'"Nay, you must not be too sure of my success," the Queen said, smiling, perhaps a little bitterly, as I tried to express my gratitude. "I will do my best; but remember, my power has a limit, though you look as though you scarce believed that. Ah, well!—now you may leave me. I will send a messenger to Lady Dalrymple, and bid her wait upon me early to-morrow morning. And, Algernon," she continued, as I knelt to kiss her hand before leaving the room, "you and your companions must make an apology for your rudeness to Father Niccolo, and the affair shall be passed over for this time, on condition that we hear no more of such crazy tricks for the future."
'It was all I could do to murmur out more thanks, and walk soberly out of Her Majesty's presence after this. And the first thing I did, when I found myself out of earshot, was to give vent to my feelings in a burst of whistling; after which I rushed off in search of Hal Verney, most anxious to make up the first quarrel we had ever had. He heard the news of how well my suit prospered with great satisfaction, though not, perhaps, with quite as much as if the cause had been carried by means of his own contrivance. However, I think he was somewhat consoled for the failure of that ingenious plan, when I told him that we had nothing to fear now on the score of Father Niccolo.
'What a long day that was to look back upon! It seemed as if a week had gone by since I was called in from the bowling-green to see Lady Dalrymple. For the first time in my life, I could not go to sleep directly my head was on the pillow, but lay awake, thinking of Frances in the Taunton jail, and wondering whether the order for release would, after all, come in time to save her.
'"My Lord Desmond, you are wanted in her Majesty's closet," said one of the Queen's officers-in-waiting, as he passed me in the ante-chamber the next morning.
'It was yet quite early; and though I had just been attending on Her Majesty at breakfast, she had made no allusion to her promise of the night before, except to favour me with a gracious nod and smile, which I thought looked encouraging.