Part 15 (1/2)
They turned down by Queen Eleanor's Cross into the street leading to Whitehall itself They passed through the Holbein Gate, down King's Street; and close under the shadow of the hoary abbey of St Peter they halted at Raleigh's lodgings Captain Dawe and his guide were resting in the cool porch and awaiting thean, yeoman and forester, rose froers, abashed in a ust presence He plucked nervously at his cap, and dared not raise his face to confront the caln Elizabeth, for her part, scanned him most critically from top to toe She noted the cut of his clothes, the stiffness of his ruff, the size of the buckles on his shoon; from these to the colour of his hair and the healthy tan of his skin, nothing escaped her She was rapidly irth, with the proportions of her handso stalwart in
”So this is the gallant young felloho bled in thy service?” she said to Raleigh
”And in the service of your Majesty,” added the knight ”He saved the life of your huht and bled in defence of your Majesty's honour and the integrity of your doain at the bent head ”Dost know the colour of an?” she asked sharply
”The colour of heaven, your Majesty,” gasped Johnnie
The Queen laughed ”I thought thou hadst not looked at them 'Tis easy to see that thou hast kept coh; thou canst assulibly as he”
”Your Majesty!” cried Raleigh
”Hath excellent eyesight, thank God!” added Elizabeth ”I wish I had found Master Morgan a siht to find a plain, unspoiled Englishht but truth Wilt let an? I have noted every hair on the top of thy head”
Johnnie raised a flushed face to the pale, cool countenance of his sovereign
”Dost not find reen_?” she asked, and leaned a little forward in her chair
”There is a glint of the verdure of England in them, your Majesty, and the sheen of the blue of her skies and her seas”
”And thou dost consider theland's Queen?”
”God oodness and wisdom”
A faint blush stole into Elizabeth's cheeks, and the blue-green eyes danced ”Thou dost see land mirrored in these pale orbs?”
”The country lives in your Majesty's heart, and the heart looks out through the eyes”
Elizabeth sat back She turned to Raleigh
”They breed poets in the shadow of Dean's oaks,” she said
”When first Iverses in the woodlands”
”And to whom?”
”A pretty maiden”