But he was just as haughty as she, and was not a bit afraid of her.

She looked down on him from her throne (she was very stately, you know, and she wore a crown, and a great stiff ruff, and her dress was all covered with gold and precious stones), and asked him how he dared to undertake such a desperate and presumptuous enterprise.

And Buccleugh--O Bubble, I always liked this so much!--Buccleugh just looked her full in the face, and said, 'What is it a man dare not do ?' Now Queen Elizabeth liked nothing so much as a brave man, and this bold answer pleased her.

She turned to one of her ministers and said, 'With ten thousand such men our brother in Scotland might shake the firmest throne in Europe.' And so she let him go, just because he was so brave and so handsome." Bubble Chirk drew a long breath, and his eyes flashed.

"I wish't I'd ben alive then!" he said.
"Why, Bubble ?" asked Hilda, much amused; "what would you have done ?" "I'd ha' killed Lord Scroope!" he cried,--"him and the hull kit of 'em.
Besides," he added, "I'd like t' ha' lived then jest ter see _him_,--jest ter see the bold Buckle-oh; that's what _I_ call a man!" And Queen Hildegardis fully agreed with him.
They had nearly reached the house when the boy asked: "If that king was her brother, why did she treat him so kind o' ugly?
My sister don't act that way." "What--oh, you mean Queen Elizabeth!" said Hilda, laughing.