"Wise," said Rebecca, very graciously, "Rebecca Wise."
"Lady Rebecca, will you sit nearer?"
Instantly one of the pages sprang forward with a low chair, which, in obedience to a sign from the Queen, he placed at her right hand.
"Why, I'd be right pleased," said Rebecca. "That is, if the other folks don't mind," she continued, looking around. "I don't want to spile your party."
So saying, she advanced and sat beside the Queen, who now turned once more to the luckless Raleigh.
"Well, Sir Walter," she said, "what say you now? You have the printed proof. Can you make aught of it? How comes it that in all your fine travels in the New World you have heard no English spoken?"
"Oh, I dare say 'tain't his fault!" said Rebecca, indulgently. "I'm told they have a mighty queer way o' talkin' down South, where he's ben. Comes o' bein' brought up with darkies, ye know."
Elizabeth took up the newspaper once more.
"Was this printed in your realm, Lady Rebecca?" she asked.
"Hey!"