The Midnight Queen [54]
an excessively bad fix; and last, but
not least, a firm and rooted determination to make the beet of a
bad bargain, and never say die.
His first act was to take off his plumed hat, and make a profound
obeisance to her majesty the queen, who was altogether too much
surprised to make the return politeness demanded, and merely
stared at him with her great, beautiful, brilliant eyes, as if
she would never have done.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" said Sir Norman, turning gracefully to
the company; "I beg ten thousand pardons for this unwarrantable
intrusion, and promise you, upon my honor, never to do it again.
I beg to assure you that my coming here was altogether
involuntary on my part, and forced by circumstances over which I
had no control; and I entreat you will not mind me in the least,
but go on with the proceeding, just as you did before. Should
you feel my presence here any restraint, I am quite ready and
willing to take my departure at any moment; and as I before
insinuated, will promise, on the honor of a gentleman and a
knight, never again to take the liberty of tumbling through the
ceiling down on your heads."
This reference to the ceiling seemed to explain the whole
mystery; and everybody looked up at the corner whence he came
from, and saw the flag that had been removed. As to his speech,
everybody had listened to it with the greatest of attention; and
sundry of the ladies, convinced by this time that he was flesh
and blood, and no ghost, favored the handsome young knight with
divers glances, not at all displeased or unadmiring. The queen
sank back into her seat, keeping him still transfixed with her
darkly-splendid eyes; and whether she admired or otherwise, no
one could tell from her still, calm face. The prince consort's
feelings - for such there could be no doubt he was - were
involved in no such mystery; and he broke out into a hyena-like
scream of laughter, as he recognized, upon a second look, his
young friend of the Golden Crown.
"So you have come, have you?" he cried, thrusting his unlovely
visage over the table, till it almost touched sir Norman's. "You
have come, have you, after all I said?"
"Yes, sir I have come!" said Sir Norman, with a polite bow.
"Perhaps you don't know me, my dear young sir - your little
friend, you know, of the Golden Crown."
"Oh, I perfectly recognize you! My little friend," said Sir
Norman, with bland suavity, and unconsciously quoting Leoline,
"once seen in not easy to be-forgotten."
Upon this, his highness net up such another screech of mirth that
it quite woke an echo through the room; and all Sir Norman's
friends looked grave; for when his highness laughed, it was a
very bad sign.
"My little friend will hurt himself," remarked Sir Norman, with
an air of solicitude, "if he indulges in his exuberant and
gleeful spirits to such an extent. Let me recommend you, as a
well-wisher, to sit down and compose yourself."
Instead of complying, however, the prince, who seemed blessed
with a lively sense of the ludicrous, wan so struck with the
extreme funniness of the young man's speech, that he relaxed into
another paroxysm of levity, shriller and more unearthly, if
possible, than any preceding one, and which left him so
exhausted, that he was forced to sink into his chair and into
silence through sheer fatigue. Seizing this, the first
opportunity, Miranda, with a glance of displeased dignity st
Caliban, immediately struck in:
"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you dare to come here?"
Her tone was neither very sweet nor suave; but it was much
pleasanter to be cross-examined by the owner of such a pretty
face than by the ugly little monster, for the moment gasping and
extinguished; and Sir Norman turned to her with alacrity, and a
bow.
"Madame, I am Sir Norman Kingsley, very much at your service; and
I beg to assure you I did not
not least, a firm and rooted determination to make the beet of a
bad bargain, and never say die.
His first act was to take off his plumed hat, and make a profound
obeisance to her majesty the queen, who was altogether too much
surprised to make the return politeness demanded, and merely
stared at him with her great, beautiful, brilliant eyes, as if
she would never have done.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" said Sir Norman, turning gracefully to
the company; "I beg ten thousand pardons for this unwarrantable
intrusion, and promise you, upon my honor, never to do it again.
I beg to assure you that my coming here was altogether
involuntary on my part, and forced by circumstances over which I
had no control; and I entreat you will not mind me in the least,
but go on with the proceeding, just as you did before. Should
you feel my presence here any restraint, I am quite ready and
willing to take my departure at any moment; and as I before
insinuated, will promise, on the honor of a gentleman and a
knight, never again to take the liberty of tumbling through the
ceiling down on your heads."
This reference to the ceiling seemed to explain the whole
mystery; and everybody looked up at the corner whence he came
from, and saw the flag that had been removed. As to his speech,
everybody had listened to it with the greatest of attention; and
sundry of the ladies, convinced by this time that he was flesh
and blood, and no ghost, favored the handsome young knight with
divers glances, not at all displeased or unadmiring. The queen
sank back into her seat, keeping him still transfixed with her
darkly-splendid eyes; and whether she admired or otherwise, no
one could tell from her still, calm face. The prince consort's
feelings - for such there could be no doubt he was - were
involved in no such mystery; and he broke out into a hyena-like
scream of laughter, as he recognized, upon a second look, his
young friend of the Golden Crown.
"So you have come, have you?" he cried, thrusting his unlovely
visage over the table, till it almost touched sir Norman's. "You
have come, have you, after all I said?"
"Yes, sir I have come!" said Sir Norman, with a polite bow.
"Perhaps you don't know me, my dear young sir - your little
friend, you know, of the Golden Crown."
"Oh, I perfectly recognize you! My little friend," said Sir
Norman, with bland suavity, and unconsciously quoting Leoline,
"once seen in not easy to be-forgotten."
Upon this, his highness net up such another screech of mirth that
it quite woke an echo through the room; and all Sir Norman's
friends looked grave; for when his highness laughed, it was a
very bad sign.
"My little friend will hurt himself," remarked Sir Norman, with
an air of solicitude, "if he indulges in his exuberant and
gleeful spirits to such an extent. Let me recommend you, as a
well-wisher, to sit down and compose yourself."
Instead of complying, however, the prince, who seemed blessed
with a lively sense of the ludicrous, wan so struck with the
extreme funniness of the young man's speech, that he relaxed into
another paroxysm of levity, shriller and more unearthly, if
possible, than any preceding one, and which left him so
exhausted, that he was forced to sink into his chair and into
silence through sheer fatigue. Seizing this, the first
opportunity, Miranda, with a glance of displeased dignity st
Caliban, immediately struck in:
"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you dare to come here?"
Her tone was neither very sweet nor suave; but it was much
pleasanter to be cross-examined by the owner of such a pretty
face than by the ugly little monster, for the moment gasping and
extinguished; and Sir Norman turned to her with alacrity, and a
bow.
"Madame, I am Sir Norman Kingsley, very much at your service; and
I beg to assure you I did not