This eBook was produced by David Widger
[A Ladder of Swords]
By Gilbert Parker
Five minutes later, Lempriere of Rozel, as butler to the Queen, saw asight of which he told to his dying day. When, after varied troubleshereafter set down, he went back to Jersey, he made a speech before theRoyal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at chapel.
"There stood I, butler to the Queen," he said, with a large gesture,"but what knew I of butler's duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty hadgiven me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, butwhen I saw the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on theirknees to lay the cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar atJerusalem, I thought it time to say my prayers. There was naught butkneeling and retiring. Now it was the salt-cellar, the plate, and thebread; then it was a Duke's Daughter—a noble soul as ever lived—with atasting-knife, as beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters whoglares at me, and gets to her knees as does the other. Three times upand down, and then one rubs the plate with bread and salt, as solemn asSt. Ouen's when he says prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was aday for Jersey. For there stood I as master of all, the Queen's butler,and the greatest ladies of the land doing my will—though it was allPersian mystery to me, save when the kettle-drums began to beat and thetrumpet to blow, and in walk bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, allscarlet, with a golden rose on their backs, bringing in a course oftwenty-four gold dishes; and I, as Queen's butler, receiving them.
"Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled withniceties of earth, and the Duke's Daughter pops onto my tongue a mouthfulof the first dish brought, and then does the same to every Yeoman of theGuard that carried a dish—that her notorious Majesty be safe against thehand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke's Daughter; and thus wasJersey honoured; and the Duke's Daughter whispers to me, as a dozen otherunmarried ladies enter, 'The Queen liked not the cut of your friezejerkin better than do I, Seigneur.' With that she joins the others, andthey all kneel down and rise up again, and lifting the meat from thetable, bear it into the Queen's private chamber.
"When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alonewith these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me,little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, andlooks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was tohave done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallantof the kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said among themselvesI know not, but I heard Leicester's name, and I guessed that they weremostly in the pay of his soft words. But the Duke's Daughter was on myside, as was proved betimes when Leicester made trouble for us who wentfrom Jersey to plead the cause of injured folk. Of the Earl's enmity tome—a foolish spite of a great nobleman against a Norman-Jerseygentleman—and of how it injured others for the moment, you all know; butwe had him by the heels before the end of it, great earl and favourite ashe was."
In the same speech Lempriere told of his audience with the Queen, even asshe sat at dinner, and of what she said to him; but since his words givebut a partial picture of events, the relation must not be his.
When the Queen returned from chapel to her apartments, Lempriere wascalled by an attendant, and he stood behind the