【英文读物】The Silver Arrow

【英文读物】The Silver ArrowPart One And so it happened that Sir Walter Raleigh, the graceful, the gracious, the generous, had spread his cloak in the pathway of Queen Elizabeth and had been taken into her especial favor. The Queen was nineteen years older than Sir Walter; that is to say, she was in her fifties, and he was in his thirties. But Queen Bess hated old age, and swore a halibi for the swift passing years, and always delighted in the title of the "Virgin Queen." Sir Walter did one great thing for England, and one for Ireland. He taught the Pg 6English the use of tobacco, and he discovered the "Irish potato"which is native to America. They do say that Sir Walter and Queen Elizabeth enjoyed many a quiet smoke with their feet on the tableso as to equalize circulation. Both of them were big folk, with plans and ambitions plus. Sir Walter was contemporary with Shakespeare, and in fact looked like him, acted like him and had a good deal of the same agile, joyous, bubbling fertility of mind. That is, Sir Walter and William were lovers by nature; and love rightly exercised, and alternately encouraged and thwarted, gives the alternating current, and lo! we have that which the world calls genius. And I am told by those who know, that you can never get genius in any other way. Pg 7 Good Queen Besswho was not so very goodfanned the ambitions of Sir Walter and flattered his abilities. And of course any man born in a lowly station, or high, would have been immensely complimented by the gentle love-taps, and sighs, vain or otherwise, not to mention the glimmering glances of the alleged Virgin Queen. But a good way to throttle love is to spy on it, question it, analyze it, vivisect it. And so Sir Walter's bubbling heart had chills of fear when he discovered that he was being followed wherever he went by the secret emissaries of Elizabeth. Had he been free to act he would have disposed of these spies, and quickly too; but he was in thrall to a Queen, and was paying for his political power by being deprived of his personality. Oho, and Oho!Pg 8 The law of compensation acted then as now, and nothing is ever given away; everything is bought with a priceeven the favors of royalty. And behold! In the palace of the Queen, as janitor, gardener, scullion and all-around handy man was one John White, obscure, and yet elevated on account of his lack of wit. He was so stupid that he was amusing. Sayings bright and clever that courtiers flung of when the wine went around were imputed to John White. Thus he came to have a renown which was not his own; and Sir Walter Raleigh, with his cheery, generous ways, attributed many a quiet quip and quillet to John White which John White had never thought not said. Now John White had a daughter, Eleanor by name, tall and fair and gracious,Pg 9 bearing in her veins the blood of Vikings bold; and her yellow hair blew in the breeze as did the yellow hair of those conquerors who discovered America and built the blockhouses along the coast of Rhode Island. Doubtless in his youth John White had a deal of sturdy worth, but a bump on the sconce at some Donnybrook Fair early in his young manhood had sent his wits a woolgathering. But the girl was not thus handicapped; her mind was alert and eager. The mother of Eleanor had passed away, and the girl had grown strong and able in spirit through carrying burdens and facing responsibilities. She knew the limitations of her father and she knew his worth; and she also knew that he was a sort of unofficial fool for the court, being dulyPg 10 installed through the clever and heedless tongue of Sir Walter Raleigh. Who would ever have thought that Sir Walter, the diplomat, the strong, the able, was to be brought low by this fair-haired daughter of John White, the court fool! "You are Sir Walter Raleigh," said this girl of nineteen one day to Sir Walter when they met squarely face to face in a hallway. It was a bold thing to do to stop this statesman, and she only a daughter to a court fool, and herself a worker below stairs! Sir Walter smiled, removed his hat in mock gallantry, and said, "I have the honor to be your obedient servant. And who are you?" The girl, bouyed up by a combination of pride and fear, replied, "I am Eleanor White, the daughter of the man whomPg 11 your wit has rendered famous." And their eyes met in level, steady look. Fair femininity aroused caught the eye and the ear of Sir Walter. "Yes," said he, "I think I have seen you. And what can I do for you?" "Only this," said Eleanor, "that from this day forth you will not attribute any more of your ribaldry to my father." "Otherwise, what?" asked Sir Walter. "Otherwise you will have me to deal with," said the proud Eleanor, and walked past him. He tried to call her back; he felt humiliated that she did not turn and look, much less listen. He had been snubbed. The banderilla