Droop paid little heed to his companion, for his eyes were busy with the unwonted scene before him. "Well, now!" he exclaimed. "Look there, Sir Knight. See how the old lady digs out a piece o' that pie and pokes it into that lord's mouth! He must be mighty hungry! I'm darned ef I'd thought they'd hev let him hev his grub before the Queen--and out of her own dish, too!" "Nay, Brother Droop," said the Englishman, "this custom hath its origin in the necessary precaution of our sovereign. Who knows but that poison be in this food! Have not a score of scurvy plots been laid against her life? 'Tis well to test what is meant for the use of majesty." Droop whistled low. "Thet's the wrinkle, eh?" he said. "I don't guess I'd be much tempted to take a job here as a taster, then! Hello!" he said. "Why, they're takin' the victuals out o' the room. What's that fer? Did they find p'ison in 'em?" Sir Percevall did not reply. His attention had been caught by the arrival of a strangely dressed woman, apparently attended by six maids of honor. Turning to a gentleman at his elbow: "Can you tell me, sir," he said, "who is yonder stranger in outlandish apparel?" Following the speaker's eyes, the gentleman stared for a few moments and then replied: "Marry, sir, it can but be the American princess with her retinue. They say that her Majesty much affects this strange new-comer." It was, indeed, Rebecca who, in response to an invitation brought by a page in the Queen's livery, was on the way to take supper with Elizabeth. On her arrival at the anteroom door, an attendant went in before the Queen to announce her presence; and, while awaiting admission, Rebecca gazed about her with a curiosity still unsatisfied. "There, now," she was saying, "'twas suttenly too bad to send you off on a wild-goose chase, Miss Margaret. Ef you could hev found the man, I'd hev ben glad, though." At that very moment, a voice close beside her made her start violently. "Well--well! I declare! Rebecca Wise, how do you do!" She turned and saw him of whom she was at that moment speaking, and lo! to her amazement, it was Copernicus Droop who held out his right hand. "Copernicus Droop!" she gasped. Then, remembering her adventure of the previous day, she went on coldly, without noticing the proffered hand: "Ye seem right glad to see me _now_, Mr. Droop." Droop was taken aback at her manner and at the sarcastic emphasis laid upon the word "now." "Why--why--of course," he stammered. "I thought you was lost." "Lost!" she cried, indignantly. "Lost! Why, you know right well I chased you up one street and down the other all the mornin' yesterday. You tried to lose me, Mr. Droop--and now you find me again, you see. Oh, yes, you _must_ be glad to see me!"