Scarcely had he quitted the room, however, when some one again knocked at the door, and, without much ceremony, entered, before the lady had broken the seal of her uncle's letter. She was not a little surprised, as she looked up, to see one of the keepers of the Council Chamber, who advanced towards her with a low bow. "What would you with me, sir?" she asked. "The King, madam," he replied, "requires your Ladyship's presence before the Council." Arabella turned pale; but there was no means of avoiding whatever was before her; and she replied at once, "I am ready to accompany you, sir. Pray call my gentlewoman from that room on the left." The keeper obeyed; and Arabella, after covering her head with a veil, put her arm through that of Ida Mara, and followed the keeper to the royal apartments. In the ante-room to the council-chamber, her guide asked her to wait for a moment, and opening the door, went in. As he did so, she heard her lover's voice, answering aloud, "I carried her a letter from the Earl of Shrewsbury, your Majesty." The next moment the keeper again appeared, and ushered her into the presence of the King. James was seated at the head of the table, with a black velvet hat, looped with a large emerald, on his head, and three or four noblemen, bare headed, on his right hand and on his left. The moment he beheld Arabella, he said, with the broad Scottish accent which he never lost, "Put the lady a chair, sirrah.--Now, young gentleman, answer me again--and mind that you tell me the truth, for there were eyes upon you, sir,--there were eyes upon you. How long did you stay upon this visit?" "I have no desire, your Majesty," replied Seymour, with some haughtiness in his tone, "to speak aught but the truth; it is not my custom. I might have stayed with the Lady Arabella some two minutes and a half, or three minutes." "The man says five, sir," cried the King. "About five, your Majesty," said one of the councillors; "he is not precise." "It may have been five, sire," answered Seymour, slightly smiling; "pleasant society makes the time pass quick, and unpleasant things will make it seem tardy--methinks I have been here an hour." "As bold as ever, I see," cried the King; "you will make yourself a hot nest of it, sir, if you go on at this rate. When did you visit the Lady Arabella before?" "Some years ago, sir," replied William Seymour, "and then by your Majesty's command." "Do you mean to say, sir," asked the King, "that you have not seen her since you had our gracious permission to return?"'