She said it would; and after that he took his departure, the doctor seeing him into his carriage. Dick was glad neither his aunt nor his uncle asked him what he thought of his grandfather, for his private opinion was that Sir Richard Gidley was a most disagreeable old man.
[CHAPTER V]
THE MARTYRED MONK
THE Manor House had been the home of the Gidley family for several hundreds of years. It was situated in a sheltered coombe about half a mile from Holton village, and was surrounded by gardens, beyond which were extensive grounds, once part of an extensive deer park. Nowadays no graceful, soft-eyed deer were to be seen beneath the fine beeches and ancient oaks; but the place was simply infested with rabbits—they ate up everything, and even came into the gardens and destroyed the crops there.
The house itself was a grey Elizabethan mansion, and had been built in the shape of the letter E in honour of the great Tudor queen. It stood on the site of an older building, which had been a religious house before Henry the Eighth had laid it in ruins, when he had presented the property to one of his favourite courtiers, Sir Richard Gidley. It was that Sir Richard who, in his old age, had built the present house. His likeness was to be seen in the picture-gallery which Dr. Warren had mentioned, represented in court dress, puffed, and padded, and bejewelled.
Little Dick thought the Manor House a very grand place indeed, as he stepped from his grandfather's carriage on the day following his first meeting with Sir Richard, and stood looking up at the old grey building. The great oaken door was opened by an elderly woman in a plain black gown, who had evidently been on the look-out for his arrival; for she flung her arms around him, and kissed him ere she led him into the house. He was naturally surprised at the warmth of her greeting, and, glancing wonderingly up into her face, saw that her eyes were smiling through a mist of tears.
"You don't know me," she said, in answer to his inquiring look, "but I couldn't help kissing you for your father's sake. I was his nurse when he was a little lad, and now I'm the housekeeper. Did you never hear of Susan Morecombe?"
"Are you Susan Morecombe?" he asked.
He did not like to say he had never heard of her before, for she evidently thought he knew all about her. He wondered afresh why he had not been told anything about his father's home. Of course his father had lived in this grand house once, although he could hardly realise the fact.
"Yes; I'm Susan Morecombe," she replied. "But come; Sir Richard expects you, and he must not be kept waiting!" and she led the way to the dining-room, where she left Dick with his grandfather.