Then every day Dickie went down to the dockyard when lessons were done.
For there were lessons now, with a sour-faced tutor in a black gown,
whom Dickie disliked extremely. The tutor did not seem to like Dickie
either. "The child hath forgot in his fever all that ever he learned of
me," he complained to the old nurse, who nodded wisely and said he would
soon learn all afresh. And he did, very quickly, learn a great deal, and
always it was more like remembering than learning. And a second tutor,
very smart in red velvet and gold, with breeches like balloons and a
short cloak and a ruff, who was an extremely jolly fellow, came in the
mornings to teach him to fence, to dance, and to run and to leap and to
play bowls, and promised in due time to teach him wrestling, catching,
archery, pall-mall, rackets, riding, tennis, and all sports and games
proper for a youth of gentle blood.
And weeks went by, and still his father and mother had not come, and he
had learned a little Greek and more Latin, could carve a box with the
arms of his house on the lid, and make that lid fit; could bow like a
courtier and speak like a gentleman, and play a simple air on the viol
that hung in the parlor for guests to amuse themselves with while they
waited to see the master or mistress.
And then came the day when old nurse dressed him in his best--a suit of
cut velvet, purple slashed with gold-color, and a belt with a little
sword to it, and a flat cap--and Master Henry, the games-master, took
him in a little boat to a gilded galley full of gentlemen and ladies all
finely dressed, who kissed him and made much of him and said how he was
grown since the fever. And one gentleman, very fine indeed, appeared to
be his uncle, and a most charming lady in blue and silver seemed to be
his aunt, and a very jolly little boy and girl who sat by him and talked
merrily all the while were his little cousins. Cups of wine and silver
dishes of fruit and cakes were handed round: the galley was decked with
fresh flowers, and from another boat quite near came the sound of music.
The sun shone overhead and the clear river sparkled and more and more
boats, all gilded and flower-wreathed, appeared on the water. Then there
was a sound of shouting, the river suddenly grew alive with the glitter
of drawn swords, the butterfly glitter of ladies waved scarves and
handkerchiefs, and a great gilded barge came slowly down-stream,
followed by a procession of smaller craft. Every one in the galley stood
up: the gentlemen saluted with their drawn swords, the ladies fluttered
their scarves.
[Illustration: "THE GALLEY WAS DECKED WITH FRESH FLOWERS"
[_Page 102_]
"His Majesty and the Queen," the little cousins whispered as the State
Barge went by.
Then all the galleys fell into place behind the King's barge, and the
long, beautiful procession went slowly on down the river.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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