A Blot on the Scutcheon

by Mabel Winifred Knowles

Her eyes were bright as stars as she came a step nearer.

"Then you may kiss me, my knight," she said with quaint gravity. "And I will be your true love for ever and ever, like the princesses and queens in old Nurse's tales."

And Michael bent his dark head to the level of pouting lips.

CHAPTER II

SWEETHEARTS TRUE

So Michael found the way to Langton Hall and to little Mistress Gabrielle Conyers's heart. But never a word said he of his discovery, not even when Jake Williams upbraided him with being late for the first round with the cocks.

And they were mettled birds too.

So summer days glided past, and Sir Henry, hearing first of one mischievous prank, then another, swore again and again that the devil himself must be in his grandson, and urged on Master Timothy Parblett to spare not the rod.

But Master Timothy, though he talked boastfully before Sir Henry, was a very lamb in the presence of his pupil, for Michael had muscle in his long arms, and a breadth of chest which made the worthy tutor tremble as he viewed it.