"Oh, I vow it is the rosemary! Let me put my hands through it," and she hastily pulled off her white embroidered gloves, and passed her hands, shining with gems, through the deliciously fragrant green leaves.
"I have a passion for rosemary," she continued. "It always perfigures good fortune to me. Sometimes if I wake in the night I smell it—I smell miles of it—and then I know my angel has been to see me, and that some good thing will tread in her footsteps."
"I ever think of rosemary for burials," said Jane.
"And I for bridals, and for happiness; but it
"'Grows for two ends, it matters not at all,
Be it for bridal, or for burial.'"
"That is true, "answered Jane. "I remember hearing my father say that when Queen Elizabeth made her joyful entry into London, every one carried rosemary posies; and that Her Grace kept in her hand, from the Fleet Bridge to Westminster, a branch of rosemary that had been given her by a poor old woman."
"That was a queen indeed! Had she reigned this day, there had been no Cromwell."
"Who can tell that? England had to come out of the Valley and Shadow of Popery, and it is the Lord General's sword that shall lead her into the full light—there is something round your neck, Matilda, that looks as if you were still in darkness."
Then Matilda laughed and put her hand to her throat, and slipped into her bosom a rosary of coral and gold beads. "It was my mother's," she said; "you know that she was of the Old Profession, and I wear it for her sake."
"It is said that Charles Stuart also wears one for his mother's sake."