'I murmured with some difficulty a shy "Yes, if you please, madam." And then, as voices and footsteps were heard approaching the door, she drew me suddenly into her arms, and kissed me as if I had been one of Frances' brothers.
'"You are my son, you know, Algernon," she said, with a sort of half-apologetic smile. "God bless you, my dear boy, and keep both you and her!"
'Some of the Queen's ladies entered at that moment to summon Lady Dalrymple once more to their mistress's presence; and so I said farewell to my mother-in-law, and for the last time, though I little thought so then.
'Hal Verney, who, of course, had contrived to find out more of the matter than anybody else, informed me that Frances was not the only one to whom I had done good service by my petition. The Queen had inquired strictly into the matter of the Taunton maidens, and had been much displeased with several of her ladies for the lengths they had gone in it, and the hard-heartedness they had shown in the affair. Owing to her remonstrances, when she found out this, all the fines were decreased to about a third of what had been demanded at first; and one or two of the girls, whose parents were really poor, received, like Frances, a free pardon.
'I was very glad to hear this, for Agnes Blount's sake especially. She was at Newcourt when I went there for a short visit at Christmas; and from her I heard the whole story of the part which Madame St. Aubert's school had taken in Monmouth's insurrection, and the troubles which had befallen it in consequence. Agnes had been lately staying at Horsemandown, and she told me, as a great secret, that Lady Dalrymple wished very much that I should pay a visit there, but that Sir Harry, and more especially, Lady Mountfort, had resolutely refused to hear of it. Why, I could not wholly understand till afterwards; but I remember how desperately angry and disappointed I felt at the time.
'Well! you have heard all my Lady Desmond's adventures fully enough from her own mouth, so there is no need for me to say anything more about them. I will only tell you that she quite recovered from that terrible prison fever, though her sickness was a very long and serious one. Perhaps you may also like to know that Henrietta Sydney entirely escaped the infection. She stayed a long time at Horsemandown, helping Lady Dalrymple to nurse poor little Frances; and the friendship that began in Taunton jail was never interrupted to the end of both their lives.'
CHAPTER VI.
THE MAID OF HONOUR'S STORY.
'Robin, I'm quite sure now that Uncle Algernon is writing a book about Bluecoat and Lady Greensleeves,' whispered Silvia, as they walked away from the dressing-room. 'Didn't you notice how he got up at once, and looked at a paper in his desk, just when he was in the middle of the story?'
'Well, I wish he would write a little more about Blue-coat, then,' observed Robin with a sigh. 'I liked it so very much.'