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KENILWORTH - Penn State University

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Sir Walter Scott“This cloak,” said the youth, taking it up and folding it,“shall never be brushed while in my possession.”“And that will not be long, if you learn not a little moreeconomy; we shall have you in cuerpo soon, as the Spaniard says.”Their discourse was here interrupted by one of the band ofPensioners.“I was sent,” said he, after looking at them attentively, “to agentleman who hath no cloak, or a muddy one.—You, sir, Ithink,” addressing the younger cavalier, “are the man; you willplease to follow me.”“He is in attendance on me,” said Blount—”on me, thenoble Earl of Sussex’s master of horse.”“I have nothing to say to that,” answered the messenger;“my orders are directly from her Majesty, and concern thisgentleman only.”So saying, he walked away, followed by Walter, leaving theothers behind, Blount’s eyes almost starting from his headwith the excess of his astonishment. At length he gave vent toit in an exclamation, “Who the good jere would have thoughtthis!” And shaking his head with a mysterious air, he walkedto his own boat, embarked, and returned to Deptford.The young cavalier was in the meanwhile guided to thewater-side by the Pensioner, who showed him considerablerespect; a circumstance which, to persons in his situation, maybe considered as an augury of no small consequence. He usheredhim into one of the wherries which lay ready to attendthe Queen’s barge, which was already proceeding; up the river,with the advantage of that flood-tide of which, in the courseof their descent, Blount had complained to his associates.The two rowers used their oars with such expedition at thesignal of the Gentleman Pensioner, that they very soon broughttheir little skiff under the stern of the Queen’s boat, whereshe sat beneath an awning, attended by two or three ladies,and the nobles of her household. She looked more than onceat the wherry in which the young adventurer was seated, spoketo those around her, and seemed to laugh. At length one ofthe attendants, by the Queen’s order apparently, made a signfor the wherry to come alongside, and the young man wasdesired to step from his own skiff into the Queen’s barge,which he performed with graceful agility at the fore part ofthe boat, and was brought aft to the Queen’s presence, thewherry at the same time dropping into the rear. The youth175

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