"Surely that is perilous, should it come to the knowledge of those at
Court."

"Oh, I promise you, Sniggius hath a device for disguising all that
could give offence. The Queen will become Semiramis or Zenobia, I
know not which, and my Lord of Leicester, Master Hatton, and the
others, will be called Ninus or Longinus, or some such heathenish
long-tailed terms, and speak speeches of mighty length. Are they to
be in Latin, Humfrey?"

"Oh no, sir," said Humfrey, with a shudder. "Master Sniggius would
have had them so, but the young ladies said they would have nothing
to do with the affair if there were one word of Latin uttered. It is
bad enough as it is. I am to be Philidaspes, an Assyrian knight, and
have some speeches to learn, at least one is twenty-five lines, and
not one is less than five!"

"A right requital for thy presumptuous and treasonable game, my son,"
said his father, teasing him.

"And who is to be the Queen?" asked the mother.

"Antony Babington," said Humfrey, "because he can amble and mince
more like a wench than any of us. The worse luck for him. He will
have more speeches than any one of us to learn."

The report of the number of speeches to be learnt took off the sting
of Cis's disappointment, though she would not allow that it did so,
declaring with truth that she could learn by hearing faster than any
of the boys. Indeed, she did learn all Humfrey's speeches, and