Part 16 (1/2)
”I have been talking with sos in ”
”Then obey the call”
”I will”
”God prosper you!”
”And bring your Majesty happiness and length of days”
Chapter XXIII
JOHNNIE SEES MANY SIGHTS
The Queen left the audience chah held the curtains over the doorway aside for the, and looked hiht! thou, John Morgan, art the biggest packet of surprises I have yet brought within the gray walls of Whitehall Palace They do say that the air of this place is peculiarly suitable for the breathing of west-country rin of better men born elsewhere But thou hast developed frole afternoon Who cut the strings of thy tongue, and took the bands from thy wits? Thou didst speak like a ten years courtier at the least I will confess that I hearkened to thee dumb with sheer amazement”
Johnnie rubbed his chin ruefully
”I aue hath undone me; yet, for the life of me, I could put no bridle upon it when once her Majesty had me by the eyes She willed the words out of me Bones o' me! I pray I may never have to face her with a secret locked inhidden 'Twould out, like murder
But her spirit co a weaker”
”There hast thou solved the royal riddle of England's governance We are swayed by the brain of a man behind the mask of woman's face To the wo devotion that her sex and her station claim from true men; but ould treat her like a woman, omanly weaknesses, then peeps the er than ourselves
The 'woman' that appeals to us, and cries for our love, is at times capricious as an April day But the ', and with 'him' no one of us dares to trifle Thy fortunate star shone o'er thee to-day Few land's maiden Queen But be not froward because of a first success, nor hope too ly, even on a sunny day Come with me now to the royal buffet; 'tis treason to quit this roof after a first visit without drinking a bun's health Her Majesty is a very country housewife in the uest chah's arm, threaded numerous corridors, sumptuously curtained and carpeted, and cae sideboard of carven oak, constant provision was maintained for bodily refreshentlemen of the household, who had just been relieved fro so a cup of wine All saluted Raleigh courteously, and bowed cere considerably less at ease than he had done in his sovereign's presence The critical stare of so lad to quit the chah escorted hiate, where Jeffreys awaited hireen, where so bowls Hi for the walk back down Strand and Fleet Street, they went to Whitehall Stairs within the palace precincts, hailed a wherry, and went down on the tide to the stairs at Blackfriars The sun was setting when they landed, and colu frohting the evening purifying fires at street corners and in the open spaces The air on the river had been cool and pleasant enough, but it was stifling in the narrow lanes leading up froent smoke froly to the nostrils
”We have had a most fortunate year in London,” said Master Jeffreys
”No case of plague, and very few of fever The aldero, but the bishop resolved to keep the within his boundaries until October set in 'Tis wonderful how the smoke and flaet soutters and conduits, the city would be cleansed and sweetened for the winter”
”For my part,” answered the forester, ”I should always breathe but chokingly in these streets”
”Oh, the air is wholesoh,” said Jeffreys ”and stout fellows thrive on it Just give an eye to yonder band of 'prentice lads I would not wish to see better liive harder thwacks with oaken cudgel than can these retailers of ribbons and fal-lals”
”The rogues are hearty enough,” assented Johnnie, ”and their lungs are like bellows of leather London is a fine place, and the air, doubtless, sweet enough to those who have not the lingering fragrance of the bracken in their nostrils The scent of the woods or the salt of the sea for me”
”And the salt of the sea is the sweeter Ah!” Master Jeffreys sniffed longingly
Chepe was pretty full of leisurely pedestrians; the doorways of the taverns were crowded; jugglers balanced theutter, and merry maidens tripped it neatly in the inn courtyards to the sound of pipe and tabor The merchants' parlours over their shops were often the scene of a friendly or faal floated har air
Elizabethan London was awas cultivated beneath the rooftree of every well-to-do burgher The fresh voices of the young girls and the led tunefully together The great city was resting fro its spirit to enjoy the deeper rest and tranquillity of the night There was a little horseplay aathered round the tumblers and tavern doors, but it hardly disturbed the calm peacefulness of the scene The side streets were practically deserted, Chepe and St Paul's Churchyard being the fashi+onable proure blotted the narrow vista of Wood Street when the three friends turned their wearied legs into it They found ”Ye Swanne” in charge of the tapster and the serving-wench, and with Paignton Rob for its solitary guest He hailed his hosts of the previous day with delight, and hastened to infor upon hi in the aisles of St Paul's he had been recognized by a Dartmouth skipper under whom he had once crossed the Atlantic on a piratical expedition against Spain The venture had failed, and the golden visions dangled before Rob's eyes had vanished But the Dartain, and had been e ho Rob's story of Oxenha for hienerous skipper had iven the Johnsons--whom he had never seen before--a couple of crowns apiece, and offered all three a berth aboard his shi+p, which was leaving for Dart's tide The Johnsons had accepted, but Rob had declined, being resolved to see Raleigh and so his plans for a recovery of Oxenham's buried treasure
”And now,” added the sailor, ”I owe ye a debt of hospitality, and am come hither to pay it The tapster hath my orders, and ye will not refuse to take bite and sup with ht”