But strong as her outdoor life had made 176 her, she was no match for the damsels of the Lady Priscilla. Soon she lay back in her chair bound hand and foot.
“No harm is meant thee, master page,” remarked the lady as, armed with a huge pair of shears, she approached the maiden. “’Tis only that thy silken tresses have tangled my heart in their meshes until sleep hath fled my pillow. I think on their lustre day and night. And so do I take them to adorn mine own pate. Thinkest thou that they could cover a fairer head?”
“Oh, madam,” cried the girl tearfully as the shears snipped relentlessly over her head, for her hair had always been a weak point with her. “O, spare my hair, I entreat!”
“Fie, sir page! Thou dost shame thy manhood. True, thou art yet guiltless of beard, yet still thou shouldst not play the woman.”
“But, madam, I shall report this to the queen. What think you she will say when she knows that one of her ladies was guilty of this outrage?”
“She would not listen to thee, malapert. Should she do so, I would say that Priscilla Rutland knew no peace until she could emulate 177 in her own locks the regal color that crowned her august mistress’ brow. That she would stoop to do anything could she but faintly follow such beauty. But I fear not thy disclosure, sirrah. Art thou not in disgrace? Then what boots it what thou sayst?”
“True;” said Francis and opened her lips no more. Clip, clip, went the shears until at last all of her ringlets lay, a mass of ruddy gold, in a great heap among the rushes. Francis looked at them, and then at the mocking face of the lady, and her heart throbbed with wrath.
“Madam,” she said as the Lady Priscilla untied her bonds and she was once more free, “I will never forgive this.”
“Thou art rude, sirrah,” laughed the lady. “But I blame thee not. Be patient, master page. I will come to thee when thy locks have been woven into a wig and thou shalt see how well they become me.”
“Thou shalt never wear hair of mine,” cried Francis, white with anger. Before the lady or her maids could prevent she seized a lamp from one of the scones and threw it into the midst of red curls. 178