THE QUEEN’S PLAISANCE 193

was hung with stiff, rich silks that had come in costly
eedar chests from the looms of old Cathay ; and the curtain
behind which the players came and went was broidered

‘with gold thread in flowers and birds like meteors for
splendor. The gallery, too, where the musicians sat, was
draped with silk and damask.

Some of the lads would have made out by their great
airs as if this were alla common thing to them; but Nick
stared honestly with round eyes, and went about with cau-
tious feet, chary of touching things, and feeling very much
out of place and shy.

It was all too grand, too wonderful,—amazing to look
upon, no doubt, and good to outface foreign envy with,
but not to be endured every day nor lived with comfor-
tably. And as the day went by, each passing moment with
new marvels, Nick grew more and more uneasy for some
simple little nook where he might just sit down and be
quiet for a while, as one could do at home, without fine
pages peering at him from the screens, or splendid guards
patrolling at his heels wherever he went, or obsequious
ushers bowing to the floor at every turn, and asking him
what he might be pleased to wish. And by the time night
fell and the attendant came to light them to their beds, he
felt like a fly on the rim of a wheel that went so fast he
could scarcely get his breath or see what passed him by,
yet of which he durst not let go.

The palace was much too much for him.