As Bothwell entered, this gaudy-looking dame seemed about to rush into his arms, but observing that he did not remove his mask, and was accompanied by three or four others, she checked herself, and remained standing in the middle of the room as if not altogether mistress of the position.
The warden, bowing low, advanced to take her hand, and Mistress Alison suffered him to do so, with an expression of ludicrous uncertainty on her handsome face.
‘Will you not unmask, my lord?’ said she; ‘though late, you are welcome, and so are your friends. Why did you bring them with you?’ she added, in a troubled whisper.
It was impossible to carry on the deception any longer; and by this time the laughter of the party had been so long smothered as to defy further restraint. With many apologies and courtly compliments and honeyed phrases, interrupted by bursts of merriment, one and all unmasked, disclosing to the bewildered Mistress Alison the features of quite another earl from her expected guest, and of three or four of the wildest gallants at Holyrood, with whom, nevertheless, she was not entirely unacquainted.
One of the most beautiful qualities in woman is her pliant nature, her tendency to adapt herself to circumstances, the readiness with which, in the absence of white bread, she contents herself with brown. Of this amiable facility the mercer’s daughter now afforded a striking instance. Bidden or unbidden, here were the gallants,—good-looking, amusing, and well-dressed; and there was the supper. Mistress Alison did not hesitate long.
‘You will not depart without breaking bread,’ said she, pointing to the well-covered table, with courteous hospitality.
Lord Robert filled himself a bumper on the spot.
‘Pledge us, fair Mistress Alison!’ said he; ‘a cup of wine will restore the bloom to that damask cheek, paled with the alarm of our sudden arrival.’
The lady drank and smiled. It is but fair to observe that, notwithstanding his lordship’s polite fiction, the ‘damask cheek’ had never paled, nor Mistress Alison lost her presence of mind for an instant. Perhaps she was not entirely unused to these impromptu supper-parties.
Merrily they sat down, heaping their cloaks, and swords, and masks in the corner of the room, their hostess only stipulating against too much noise, and insisting that her guests should not disturb the repose of the honest mercer who slept above.