“How wonderfully freedom and exercise affect young blood!” she said; “the wench is blooming as a Christmas rose. Come hither, my girl, and tell us of your ride; perchance it may seem like the recital of a chapter of wild adventures to us. Youth and hope see all things in a golden light; what knight rode at your bridle rein? what dragon was slain at your approach? Such faces as yours open new channels of chivalry in the hearts of men. Saw you not some marvel that may serve to cheer us in our solitude?” “Nay, madam,” Betty replied, smiling, “I met with no such wonders; but I did see a wizard riding on a piebald horse.” “A wizard on a piebald horse?” repeated Catherine; “’tis well, so you saw not Death riding on a white one, as they say my lord of Buckingham did once. How knew you the gentleman for a wizard? Did he carry the symbols of his trade displayed, or had he a terrible learned countenance that confounded all men at the view?” “Your grace should see what a small, bandy-legged creature it is, much like a frog,” said Mistress Carew, “only that he wears russet instead of green, and has a smooth tongue, so that even now he wins the regard of Sir Edmund.” “What, is he here?” exclaimed the queen, in surprise; “I knew not that Bedingfield would admit any one without the warrant of my lord privy seal; surely, Cromwell hath not sent a sorcerer to conjure me,” she added with an ironical laugh. “Rode he a piebald horse?” asked Patience, the queen’s woman; “I think I cannot mistake the man.” “A piebald horse, surely,” answered Betty Carew, “and he is clad in russet from top to toe; his cloak is of velvet, but his doublet, I think, was no more than sarsenet, and he wears one straight black feather in the front of his low hat. His eyes are bright--the brightest that I ever saw--and he has a pointed gray beard, after the fashion of the Spaniards. I noticed, too, that his eyebrows were arched up sharply, almost in a point, which gave him a strange look, like an owl.” “’Tis Zachary Sanders,” exclaimed Patience. “Your highness does remember, surely; ’tis he who made the wonderful ring for my lord cardinal and sent the scroll of her horoscope to the Princess Mary.”