The two old servants exchanged a glance as the slight figure of their mistress moved across the polished floor, strewn with Oriental rugs and skins of wild beasts.
“Would my lady wish to go to her room, or to have some refreshment in the dining-room?� the housekeeper asked.
My lady declined.
“I have no need of anything. I only wish to rest a little and see my husband’s home before starting upon a journey,� she explained.
“A journey? Dear, gracious me! And your ladyship just fresh from travel, and shaken by an accident and all!� cried Mrs. Ansdey, shaking her lace lappets.
“I am so used to travel,� said her ladyship, “though this is the longest journey I have ever taken—or ever shall take!� She smiled upon the two old people, and settled herself in the seat she had chosen, and resting her elbow upon the arm of it, and her pretty chin in her delicate palm, let her sweet shining eyes travel about the place. “All as he described it, yes!� she whispered to herself. “The mullioned windows with the coats of arms, the carved and painted ceiling, the hooded Tudor fireplaces, the arms and the pictures.... That is the great Gainsborough portrait of Sir Alan’s young wife, the girl who died of grief when they brought her husband’s bâton of Field Marshal to her—won an hour before he was killed in battle. There is the painting by Velasquez of the Wroth who was made Bishop of Toledo. That must be the Vandyck of Lady Marjorie with the deerhound by her side, and there is the Watts picture of Vivian’s young mother playing ball with her boy. Ah! what a sweet, sweet child!�
The plaintive voice thrilled and trembled. Tears might not have been far from the shadowy dark eyes, as Lady Wroth rose and moved to the foot of the great staircase, attended by the housekeeper.
“Shall I show you your rooms, my lady?� Mrs. Ansdey began. “The fires are burning beautifully, and everything is quite ready, and I feel sure your ladyship must need rest after——�
“I will rest presently. But what I wish now, is to be shown the house, if you are not too tired. Lady Audrey’s turret, and the paneled chamber where Sir Roger fought the duel with the Spanish cavalier, and the bedroom where Queen Elizabeth slept, and the banqueting-hall and the chapel where the Templar’s heart is buried under the altar, and the gallery where Lady Euphrasia danced with King Henry VIII., in masquing dress, and the whispering corridor, and the painted room——�
“And the ghost-chamber, my lady? Oddly enough, that’s the first room that American ladies ask to see!... But maybe your ladyship doesn’t believe in ghosts, or the fact of its being late and getting dark——�