CHAPTER

      I the lord admiral’s players
     II Nicholas Attwood’s home
    III the last straw
     IV off for Coventry
      V in the Warwick road
     VI the master-player
    VII “Well sung, master skylark!”
   VIII the admiral’s company
     IX the may-day play
      X after the play
     XI disowned
    XII A strange ride
   XIII A dash for freedom
    XIV at bay
     XV London town
    XVI ma’m’selle Cicely Carew
   XVII Carew’s offer
  XVIII master Heywood protests
    XIX the rose play-house
     XX disappointment
    XXI “The children of Paul’s”
   XXII the skylark’s song
  XXIII A new life
   XXIV the making of A player
    XXV the waning of the year
   XXVI to sing before the queen
  XXVII the queen’s Plaisance
 XXVIII Christmas with queen Bess
   XXIX back to Gaston Carew
    XXX at the Falcon inn
   XXXI in the twinkling of an eye
  XXXII the last of Gaston Carew
 XXXIII Cicely disappears
  XXXIV the bandy-legged man
   XXXV A sudden resolve
  XXXVI wayfaring home
 XXXVII turned adrift
XXXVIII A strange day
  XXXIX all’s well that ends well

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

“MASTER SKYLARK, THOU SHALT HAVE THY WISH,” SAID QUEEN ELIZABETH

The lord admiral’s players.  The trumpeters and the
drummers led, their horses prancing, white plumes
waving in the breeze

“Whur be-est going, Nick?” Asked Roger Dawson

“What!  How now?” Cried the stranger, sharply.  “Dost
like or like me not?”

“Nick thought of his mother’s singing on A summer’s evening—­drew
A deep breath and began to sing

“Nobody breaks nobody’s hearts in old Jo-ohn Smithses
sho-op,” Drawled the smith, in his deep voice; “Nor
steals nobody, nother”

“Diccon had often made Nick whistles from the willows
along the Avon when Nick was A toddler”

NICK PUT ONE LEG OVER THE SILL AND LOOKED BACK

“Oh, Nick, thou art most beautiful to see!” Cried Cicely