"Oh, you seek Mistress Barbara, do you, young man?" and she cast her
eyes over Robin's mis-shapen figure with an expression of contempt that
could not be mistaken; then passed her finger along the braid of hair
that bounded the border of a plain cap, made of the richest lace; pulled
down her stomacher, and apparently waited for the Ranger's reply. Robin
reddened to the eyes, for he could but impatiently brook such personal
scrutiny; and his annoyance increased when he saw that his embarrassment
was noticed by his courtly companion.
"We do not call her mistress here," he said at length; "but I pray you
tell me where she is--I mean the Lady Constantia's attendant, little
Barbara Iverk."
"I know who you mean perfectly well," replied the pert woman in
authority; "we of the court are not thick-headed, as you of the country
may be, so I will explain fully to your----" she tittered rudely and
loudly; but Robin's pride was nettled, and he heeded it not; "to
your----but I wouldn't laugh, if I could help it. Barbara wished to know
how the attendants were dressed when my Lady Mary was married so very
lately to my Lord Fauconberg; and, as we of the court always carry our
wardrobes with us, and the simple girl being my size--she hath a
marvellously fine person for one country-bred--I dressed her as was
fitting in my robes: a white striped silk petticoat, and a white body
made of foreign taffeta, the sleeves looped up with white pearls, no cap
upon her head, but a satin hood just edged with Paris lace. 'Od's
Gemini! young man, if you had but seen her. Then all of a sudden her
lady wanted her to get some flowers, and she had only time to throw on
her cardinal and run for them."
"Then she is in the garden?"
"By the Fairy Ring, I take it; for there the best flowers grow."
Robin did not tarry to thank the court damsel for her information, but
bounded right away to the garden, cursing the rude laugh that again
insulted him.
As he drew near the Ring, he heard a faint shriek. His quick ear knew at
once that it came from the lips of Barbara; and bursting through the
trees, he was in an instant by her side.
It will take many words to describe what had passed in a single moment.
Barbara, dressed as Lady Frances' woman had described, was on her knees
before a slight, sallow youth, who held an unsheathed dagger in one
hand, and spoke in a language that was a mixture of some foreign tongue
and most imperfect English. Barbara, pale and trembling, evidently did
not understand a word the other said, yet knelt with hands and face
upturned, while the boy brandished the weapon, as if in the act of
striking. As his dark eye flashed upon his victim, it caught sight of
the Ranger, who rushed from the thicket to her side. With a piercing
cry, the boy sprang away into an almost impenetrable underwood, that
skirted the portion of the Fairy Ring most distant from the house.
Barbara no sooner saw Robin than she attempted to rise; but she was
unequal to any further exertion, and sank fainting on the grass.