"He has been carefully brought up," the old man said to himself; "his father's doing, I suppose." Aloud he said, "I suppose your father had you with him a good deal in India, eh?"
"Oh, no," Dick answered promptly; "father was always so busy! Sometimes mother and I were alone together all day! That's why I miss mother more than father, though I love them both alike! And I can't help thinking if I feel so dreadfully bad about it, that she must be feeling the same!"
Sir Richard grunted, but he made no reply.
"I'm expecting a letter from mother," Dick went on, a happy, expectant smile brightening his pale face. "She said I should hear from her very soon; and when I write to her I shall have such lots of things to tell her! Oh, dear; I wish I could write better! You can't think how badly I write!"
"Ah!" the old man exclaimed, smiling indulgently. "The Gidleys have been oftener soldiers than scholars! Your father could never bear letter-writing."
"Mother generally writes his letters, except his duty letters, you know."
After luncheon Dick reminded his grandfather of his promise to show him the picture-gallery.
Accordingly, Sir Richard slowly led the way up the broad oaken staircase, whilst Dick followed. Down a dark corridor they went till they reached a heavy door—like a church door, the little boy thought. Sir Richard lifted the ponderous latch, and Dick followed him into a large long room, with windows of painted glass through which the summer sun shone in mellow tones. A feeling of awe crept over Dick as he glanced at the walls panelled in oak and beautifully carved, against which, in heavy frames, hung the likenesses of his ancestors.
His attention was first called to Sir Richard Gidley, bluff King Hal's favourite, a fine-looking gentleman, brown-eyed, brown-haired, with a merry smile on his lips.
"That likeness was painted before his son was murdered," Sir Richard said, "when he was young and gay. See, Dick, there is he who entertained King Charles the First—that handsome man with the love-locks; and there is Dame Margery, his wife—a lady-in-waiting she was, before she married, to Queen Henrietta Maria. And there is Sir Thomas Gidley, whom William, Prince of Orange, disliked and mistrusted."