“And it has, Miss; that stool was used by the late Queen Victoria (God bless her!), at her coronation at Westminster Abbey!” and the loyal old lady patted the black velvet stool respectfully.
The rooms and corridors of the old house are crowded with things of interest. Sir Philip’s helmet is there, and a bit of his shaving-glass. In a small room called the “Pages’ Closet,” are preserved rare specimens of china—Queen Elizabeth’s dessert-set, in green, and Queen Anne’s breakfast-set, in blue and white. Betty and Barbara were deeply interested in Mary Stuart’s jewel-case, and they laughed over a very curious old painting which shows Queen Elizabeth dancing. The long picture-gallery is lined with portraits—most of them Sidneys—and among them those of the mother of Sir Philip, and of his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, for whom he wrote his “Arcadia.”
When they again passed through the Ball-room on their way out, they were shown a little square window on one of the walls, which they had not noticed before.
“Why! I can see down into the Banquet-hall!” exclaimed Philip, who had climbed up to look through.
“Yes,” said their guide, “in the olden times, the master at the ball could look through there to see how the servants were behaving, down in the hall below.”
Out on the lawn again, they lingered for a few minutes while Mrs. Pitt reminded them that there is every reason to believe that under those very trees Spenser wrote his “Shepherd’s Calendar.”
Reluctantly they left the castle and walked back to the carriage, which awaited them in the village.
“If all English castles are as beautiful as Penshurst Place,” declared Betty earnestly, “I can’t go back to America until I have seen every one!”