the winning tongue, the woolsack will
do as well for a whisper in the ear of the throne. That is our aim, my
son. We say,--you will not acknowledge our birth, you shall acknowledge
our worth.' He complained bitterly of my aunt Dorothy bringing a lawyer
to our house. The sins of Mrs. Waddy were forgiven her, owing to her
noble resistance to the legal gentleman's seductive speech. So I walked
up and down stairs with the kings of England looking at me out of the
coloured windows quietly for a week; and then two ugly men entered the
house, causing me to suffer a fearful oppression, though my father was
exceedingly kind to them and had beds provided for them, saying that
they were very old retainers of his.

But the next day our scarlet livery appeared. After exacting particular
attention to his commands, my father quitted Mrs. Waddy, and we mounted
the carriage, laughing at her deplorable eyes and prim lips, which he
imitated for my amusement. 'A load is off my head,' he remarked. He
asked me if splendour did not fatigue me also. I caught the answer from
his face and replied that it did, and that I should like to go right on
to Dipwell 'The Burgundy sleeps safe there,' said my father, and thought
over it. We had an extraordinary day. People stood fast to gaze at
us; in the country some pulled off their hats and set up a cheer. The
landlords of the inns where we baited remained bare-headed until we
started afresh, and I, according to my father's example, bowed and
lifted my cap gravely to persons saluting us along the roads. Nor did
I seek to know the reason for this excess of respectfulness; I was
beginning to take to it naturally. At the end of a dusty high-road,
where it descends the hill into a town, we drew up close by a high red
wall, behind which I heard boys shouting at play. We went among them,
accompanied by their master. My father tipped the head boy for the
benefit of the school, and following lunch with the master and his
daughter, to whom I gave a kiss at her request, a half-holiday was
granted to the boys in my name. How they cheered! The young lady saw my
delight, and held me at the window while my father talked with hers; and
for a long time after I beheld them in imagination talking: that is to
say, my father issuing his instructions and Mr. Rippenger receiving
them like a pliant hodman; for the result of it was that two days later,
without seeing my kings of England, my home again, or London, I was
Julia R