"I shall wait there to receive the commands of Your Majesty."
Mary moved a little from the mantelpiece and held out her hand.
Shrewsbury went on one knee to kiss the soft fingers.
"I hope to see you at court once more," she said, with a pretty smile. "I hope you will serve the King again when we are through this difficult pass."
He answered from his heart—
"I would serve His Majesty with my life."
When he had gone Mary went to the window, for the light was beginning to fade, and drew from her waist a crystal watch enamelled with white violets.
It was nearly time for her supper. She resided now at Whitehall to please the people, and to please the people dined nearly always in public, a practice the King detested and could scarcely ever be brought to do; that penance was over for to-day, but she had other disagreeable duties to perform.
She rang the handbell on an ormolu bureau between the windows, and asked the Dutch usher who came if Lord Feversham was without.
He had, it seemed, been long awaiting an audience.