The autumn dusk was now rapidly approaching, and the two friends turned into the Strand to find a tavern to get themselves some dinner before they returned to the House.
Meanwhile the Countess of Strafford drove furiously into the courtyard of the palace and, hastening through the public halls and galleries, demanded an audience of the Queen.
CHAPTER IV
THE QUEEN'S POLICY
Lady Strafford was admitted, without any delay, into the private apartment of the Queen, where Henriette Marie sat with two ladies in a sumptuous simplicity and elegant seclusion, which was noticeable in the extreme richness and good taste of the apartment, in the attire of the Queen herself, which, free from all fopperies of fashion, was of an exceeding fineness and grace, and in her occupation, which was that of sewing figures in beads on a casket of white silk.
The chamber was so delicately scented with attar of roses and perfume of jasmine and cascarilla, so finely warmed with a fire of cedar-wood, that every breath drawn there was a delight; the window was shrouded by peach-coloured velvet curtains, and the light came from a suspended silver lamp the flame of it softened by a screen of rosy silk; on the wall hung mellowed and ancient French tapestries, heavily shot with gold and silver, and the inlaid floor was covered with silk carpets. The Queen wore a pale saffron-coloured gown, and about her elbows and shoulders hung quantities of exquisite lace fastened by loops of pearl.
At the entrance of the Countess, she very sweetly dismissed the ladies and smiled at her visitor, then continued her task, thoughtfully selecting the beads from an ivory tray and sewing them skilfully on to the thick white silk.
The Countess remained standing before the Queen. She was now shown to be a woman of a carriage of pride and fire, fair-haired and swift-moving, with a great expression of energy which did not alter her wholly feminine attraction.
"Your Majesty will forgive this uncourtly coming of mine," she said, "but I have it on good authority that this inquiry into Irish Affairs is but a covert attack on my Lord Strafford."