"Which thou little lovest, as methinks."
"Should you love it, Mistress, think you?" demanded Maude.
"Truly, little maid, that should I not," answered the lady. "Now tell
me freely, what wouldst liefer do?"
"Aught that were clean and fair and honest!" [pretty] said Maude
confidentially, her eyes kindling again. "An' they lack any 'prentices
in that City, I would fain be bound yonder. Verily, I would love to
twine flowers, or to weave dovecotes [the golden nets which confined
ladies' hair], or to guard brave gowns with lace, and the like of that,
an' I could be learned. Save that, methinks, over there, I would be
ever and alway a-gazing from the lattice."
"Wherefore?"
"And yet I wis not," added Maude, thinking aloud. "Where the streets be
gold, and the gates margarites, what shall the gowns be?"
"Pure, bright stones [see Note 3], little maid," said the lady. "But
there be no 'prentices yonder."
"What! be they all masters?" said the child.
"`A kingdom and priests,'" she said. "But there be no 'prentices,
seeing there is no work, save the King's work."
Little Maude wondered privately whether that were to sew stars upon
sunbeams.
"But there shall not enter any defouled thing into that City," pursued
the lady seriously; "no leasing, neither no manner of wrongfulness."
Little Maude's face fell considerably.
"Then I could not go to cleanse the pans yonder!" she said sorrowfully.
"I did tell a lie once to Mistress Drew."
"Who is Mistress Drew?" enquired the lady.
The child looked up in astonishment, wondering how it came to pass that
any one living in Langley Palace should not know her who, to Maude's
apprehension, was monarch of all she surveyed--inside the kitchen.
"She is Mistress Ursula Drew, that is over me and Parnel."
"Doth she cleanse pans?" said the lady smilingly.
"Nay, verily! She biddeth us."
"I see--she is queen of the kitchen. And is there none over her?"
"Ay, Master Warine."
"And who is over Master Warine?"
A question beyond little Maude's power to answer.
"The King must be, of force," said she meditatively. "But who is else--
saving his gracious mastership and our Lady her mistresshood--in good
sooth I wis not."
The lady looked at her for a minute with a smile on her lips. Then, a
little to Maude's surprise, she clapped her hands. A handsomely attired
woman--to the child's eyes, the counterpart of the lady who had been
talking with her--appeared in the doorway.
"Senora!" she said, with a reverence.
The two ladies thereupon began a conversation, in a language totally
incomprehensible to little Maude. They were both Spanish by birth, and
they were speaking their own tongue. They said:--
"Dona Juana, is there any vacancy among my maids?"
"Senora, we live to fulfil your august pleasure."
"Do you think this child could be taught fine needlework?"
"The Infanta has only to command."
"I wish it tried, Dona Juana."
"I lie at the Infanta's feet."
The lady turned back to Maude.
"Thy name, little maid?" she gently asked.
"Maude, and your servant, Mistress," responded the child.
"Then, little Maude, have here thy treasure"--and she held forth the
leaf to her--"and thy wish. Follow this dame, and she will see if thou
canst guard gowns. If so be, and thou canst be willing and gent,
another may cleanse the pans, for thou shalt turn again to the kitchen
no more."
Little Maude clasped her hands in ecstasy.
"Our Lady Mary, and Peter and Paul, bless your Ladyship's mistresshood!
Be you good enough for to ensure me of the same?"
"Thou shalt not win back, an' thou do well," repeated the lady, smiling.
"Now follow this dame."
Dona Juana was not at all astonished. Similar sudden transformations
were comparatively of frequent occurrence at that time; and to call in
question any act of the King of Castilla's daughter would have been in
her eyes the most impossible impropriety. She merely noted mentally the
extremely dirty state of Maude's frock, calculated how long it would
take to make her three new ones, wondered if she would be very
troublesome to teach, and finally asked her if she had any better dress.
Maude owned that she possessed a serge one for holidays, upon which
Dona Juana, after a minute's hesitation, looked back into the room she
had left, and said, "Alvena!" A lively-looking woman, past girlhood in
age, but retaining much of the character, answered the call.
"Hie unto Mistress Ursula Drew, that is over the kitchen, and do her to
wit that her Grace's pleasure is to advance Maude, the scullion, unto
room [situation] of tire-woman; bid her to give thee all that 'longeth
unto the maid, and bear it hither."
Alvena departed on her errand, and Maude followed Dona Juana into fairy
land. Gorgeous hangings covered the walls; here and there a soft mossy
carpet was spread over the stone floor--for it was not the time of year
for rushes. The guide's own dress--crimson velvet, heavily
embroidered--was a marvel of art, and the pretty articles strewn on the
tables were wonders of the world. They had passed through four rooms
ere Maude found her tongue.
"Might it like your Madamship," she asked timidly, her curiosity at last
overcoming her reserve, though she felt less at home with Dona Juana
than with the other lady, "to tell me the name of the fair mistress that
did give me into your charge?"
"That is our Lady's Grace, maiden," said Juana rather stiffly, "the Lady
Infanta Dona Isabel, Countess of Cambridge."
"What, she that doth bear rule over us all?" said Maude amazedly.
"She," replied Juana.
"Had I wist the same, as wot the saints, I had been sore afeard,"
responded Maude. "And what call men your Grace's Ladyship, an' I may
know?"
Dona Juana condescended to smile at the child's simplicity.
"My name is Juana Fernandez," she said. "Thou canst call me Dame Joan."
At this point the hangings were suddenly lifted, and something which
seemed to Maude the very Queen of the Fairies crept out and stood before
them. Juana stopped and courtesied, an act which Maude was too
fascinated to imitate.
"Whither go you, Dona Juana?" asked the vision. "In good sooth, this is
the very little maid I saw a-washing the pans. Art come to sit under
the cloth of estate in my stead?"
Little Maude gazed on her Fairy Queen, and was silent.
"What means your Grace, Dona Constanca?" asked Juana.
"What is thy name, and wherefore earnest hither?" resumed Constance,
still addressing herself to Maude.
"Maude," said the child shyly.
"Maude! That is a pretty name," pronounced the little Princess.
"The Senora Infanta, your Grace's mother, will have me essay to learn
the maid needlework," added Juana in explanation.
"Leave me learn her!" said Constance eagerly. "I can learn her all I
know; and I am well assured I can be as patient as you, Dona Juana."
"At your Ladyship's feet," responded Juana quietly, using her customary
formula. She felt the suggestion highly improper and exceedingly
absurd, but she was far too great a courtier to say so.
"Come hither!" said Constance gleefully, beckoning to Maude. "Sue
[follow] thou me unto Dame Agnes de La Marche her chamber. I would fain
talk with thee."
Maude glanced at Juana for permission.
"Sue thou the Senorita Dona Constanca," was the reply. "Be thou ware
not to gainsay her in any thing."
There was little need of the warning, for Maude was completely
enthralled. She followed her Fairy Queen in silence into the room where
Dame Agnes still sat spinning.
"Sit thou down on yonder stool," said Constance. "My gracious Ladyship
will take this giant's chair. (I have learned my lesson, Dame Agnes.)
Now--where is thy mother?"
"A fathom underground."
"Poor Maude! hast no mother?--And thy father?"
"Never had I."
"And thy brethren and sustren?" [Sisters.]
"Ne had I never none."
"Maiden!" interjected Dame Agnes, "wist not how to speak unto a damosel
of high degree? Thou shalt say `Lady' or `Madam.'"
"`Lady' or `Madam,'" repeated Maude obediently.
"How long hast washed yonder pans?" asked Constance, leaning her head on
the arm of the chair.
"`Lady' or `Madam,'" answered Maude, remembering her lesson, "by the
space of ten months."
"The sely hilding!" [sely=simple, hilding=young person of either sex]
exclaimed Agnes; while Constance flung herself into another attitude,
and laughed with great enjoyment.
"Flyte [scold] her not, Dame Agnes. I do foresee she and I shall be
great friends."
"Lady Custance! The dirt under your feet is no meet friend ne fellow
[companion] for the like of you."
"Truly, no, saving to make pies thereof," laughed the little Princess.
"Nathless, take my word for it, Maude and I shall be good friends."
Was there a recording angel hovering near to note the words? For the
two lives, which had that day come in contact, were to run thenceforth
side by side so long as both should last in this world.
But the little Princess was soon tired of questioning her new
acquaintance. She sauntered away ere long in search of some more novel
amusement, and Dame Agnes desired Maude to change her dress, and then to
return to the ante-chamber, there to await the orders of Dame Joan, as
Dona Juana was termed by all but the Royal Family. Maude obeyed, and in
the ante-chamber she found, not Juana, but Alvena [a fictitious person],
and another younger woman, whom she subsequently heard addressed as
Mistress Sybil [a fictitious person].
"So thou shalt be learned?" [you have to be taught] said Alvena, as her
welcome to Maude. "Come, look hither on this gown. What is it?"
"'Tis somewhat marvellous shene!" [bright] said Maude, timidly stroking
the glossy material.
Alvena only laughed, apparently enjoying the child's ignorance; but
Sybil said gently, "'Tis satin, little maid."
"Is it for our Lady's Grace?" asked Maude.
"Ay, when 'tis purfiled," replied Alvena.
"Pray you, Mistress Alvena, what is `purfiled?'"
"Why, maid! Where hast dwelt all thy life? `Purfiled' signifieth
guarded with peltry."
"But under your good allowance, Mistress Alvena, what is `peltry'?"
"By my Lady Saint Mary! heard one ever the like?"
"Peltry," quietly explained Sybil, "is the skin of beast with the
dressed fur thereon--such like as minever, and gris [marten], and the
like."
"Thurstan," said Alvena suddenly, turning to a little errand boy [a
fictitious person] who sat on a stool in the window, and whose especial
business it was to do the bidding of the Countess's waiting-women, "Hie
thee down to Adam [a fictitious person] the peltier [furrier. Ladies of
high rank kept a private furrier in the household], and do him to wit
that the Lady would have four ells of peltry of beasts ermines for the
bordure of her gown of blue satin that is in making. The peltry shall
be of the breadth of thine hand, and no lesser; and say unto him that it
shall be of the best sort, and none other. An' he send me up such evil
gear as he did of gris for the cloak of velvet, he may look to see it
back with a fardel [parcel] of flyting lapped [wrapped] therein. Haste,
lad! and be back ere my scissors meet."
Thurstan disappeared, and Alvena threw herself down on the settle while
she waited for her messenger.
"Ay me! I am sore aweary of all this gear--snipping, and sewing, and
fitting. If I would not as lief as forty shillings have done with
broidery and peltry, then the moon is made of green cheese. Is that
strange unto thee, child?"
"Verily, Mistress Alvena, methinks you be aweary of Fairy Land," said
little Maude in surprise.
"Callest this Fairy Land?" laughed Alvena. "If so be, child, I were
fain to dwell a season on middle earth."
"In good sooth, so count I it," answered Maude, allowing her eyes to
rove delightedly among all the marvels of the ante-chamber, "and the
Lady Custance the very Queen of Faery."
"The Lady Custance is made of flesh and blood, trust me. An' thou hadst
had need to bear her to her bed, kicking and striving all the way, when
she was somewhat lesser than now, thou shouldst be little tempted to
count her immortal."
"An' it like you, Mistress Alvena--"
"Marry, Master Thurstan, it liketh me right well to see thee back
without the peltry wherefor I sent thee! Where hast loitered, thou
knave?"
"Master Adam saith he is unfurnished at this time of the peltry you
would have, Mistress, and without fox will serve your turn--"
"Fox me no fox, as thou set store by thy golden locks!" said Alvena,
advancing towards the luckless Thurstan in a threatening attitude, with
the scissors open in her hand. "I'll fox him, and thee likewise. Go
and bring me the four ells of peltry of beasts ermines, and that of the
best, or thou shalt wake up to-morrow to find thy poll as clean as the
end of thine ugsome [ugly] nose."
Poor Thurstan, who was only a child of about ten years old, mistook
Alvena's jesting for earnest, and began to sob.
"But what can I, Mistress?" urged the terrified urchin. "Master Adam
saith he hath never a nail thereof, never name an ell."
"Alvena, trouble not the child," interposed Sybil.
But Sybil's gentle intercession would have availed little if it had not
been seconded by the unexpected appearance of the only person whom
Alvena feared.
"What is this?" inquired Dona Juana, in a tone of authority.
Thurstan, with a relieved air, subsided into his recess, and Alvena,
with a rather abashed one, began to explain that no ermine could be had
for the trimming of the blue satin dress.
"Then let it wait," decided the Mistress--for this was Juana's official
title. "Alvena, set the child a-work, and watch that she goeth rightly
thereabout. Sybil, sue thou me."
The departure of Juana and Sybil, for which Maude was privately rather
sorry, set Alvena's tongue again at liberty. She set Maude at work, on
a long hem, which was not particularly interesting; and herself began to
pin some trimming on a tunic of scarlet cloth.
"Pray you, Mistress Alvena," asked Maude at length--wedging her question
in among a quantity of small-talk--"hath the Lady Custance brethren or
sustren?"
"Sustren, not one; and trust me, child, an' thou knewest her as I do,
thou shouldst say one of her were enough. But she hath brethren twain--
the Lord Edward, which is her elder, and the Lord Richard, her younger.
The little Lord Richard is a sweet child as may lightly be seen; and
dearly the Lady Custance loveth him. But as for the Lord Edward--an' he
can do an ill turn, trust him for it."
"And what like is my Lord our master?" asked Maude.