"No," said Sir Thomas, "I never heard."
"Well, then, I will tell you," rejoined his companion. "He first read the petition, to please me, he said; then, when he saw it was about money, he swore five large oaths, to which I cannot do justice, for they were part Pagan philosophy, and part Christian blasphemy. Then he chuckled for a minute, and then he asked what the man had ge'en me. I told him, nothing; and then he called me a fule, and said that Whitstable was no better, and so he should not have his money, because he did not know how to show himself thankful to those who asked it for him. No, no, I will present no more petitions."
"But, in good sooth, you must do so in this case," said Sir Thomas Overbury, "for it is at the request of a lady."
"Ay, indeed," cried Carr, somewhat more interested in the question. "What lady, may I ask, Tom?"
"A very sweet and beautiful one," replied the knight, "and one that it were better worth your while to please, than all the gerfalcons in the King's mew, though that's one high road to his royal graces."
"Her name, man," cried Rochester; "you keep me with my wit galloping all through the Court."
"Draw the bridle, then," replied Overbury; "it is the Lady Arabella Stuart; and if you can contrive to fall from your horse at her feet, with as much success as you did at the King's, you may so mend your fortunes, as never to risk a fall again."
"Ay, she is very pretty," answered Rochester, in an indifferent tone, "but hardly tall enough, to my mind."
"I do not know," replied Overbury, "how that can be; she could not be well higher, without being Queen or Princess Royal of England."
"Yes, she is pretty," continued Rochester, in a musing tone; "but what is that to me? There are many as handsome women in the court, not quite so stiff and stately in their virtue. Why she and my Lady Rich do not even speak; and, to my taste, Lady Rich is the prettier woman of the two."