"What time shall we get to Madrid?"
"About one o'clock in the morning, madam."
"Well, we will dine now. Then we will talk for an hour or two, and I will try to get to sleep again, for I know that I shall have no sleep to-night after I get in, but shall be up all night with my ministers. I hope all the men are getting food?"
"Yes, madam; I brought a basket of food for them too, otherwise there must have been much delay when we changed horses."
"You seem to think of everything, Captain Hallett," she said, as he moved away to get the hamper.
"I had better open it and pass the things in, madam."
"No, bring it inside; we can put it on the seat by you. It will be an amusement to open it. It is many, many years since I enjoyed an impromptu meal like this."
The carriage rolled on and the hamper was opened. It contained every necessary for a meal. There were several bottles of the count's best wine, cold fowls, pasties, and a variety of sweets, together with glasses, plates, and other necessaries. The regent and the little queen entered into the spirit of the thing with great zest. To the former it was a relief indeed to be eating without ceremony, and able for the moment to put aside all the cares of state, which weighed so heavily upon her; to the little queen it was something perfectly delightful, and both laughed and chatted with a freedom and abandon that set Arthur quite at his ease. The meal lasted for a long time, the regent declaring that she had not eaten so much nor enjoyed a meal so thoroughly for years.
The queen was enchanted. "Why can't we always eat like this, mamma," she said, "instead of having to sit up, with three or four servants to wait upon us, and everyone staring disagreeably? I do so wish we could."
"Well, we can't have it quite like this, Isabella; but I will make up my mind that once a week we will dine together in my closet, and then we will have everything put upon the table and help ourselves, and try and think that we are not queens, or anything else disagreeable."