entative of
all the dead Plantagenets. As to the Tudors,--the Queen's Grace, of
course, was all that was right and proper, a brave lady and true
Protestant; and long might God send her to rule over England!--but the
Tudors, apart from Elizabeth personally, were--Hush! in 1587 it was
perilous to say all one thought. So for some minutes Lord Strange's
further news was unheard in the little chamber. A pathetic vision
filled it, of a night in which there would be dole at Umberleigh, when
the coffin of Sir Arthur Basset was borne to the sepulchre of his
fathers in Atherington Church. [Note 3.] He was not yet forty-six.
"God save and comfort Mistress Philippa!"

For, eldest-born and last-surviving of her generation, in a green old
age, Philippa Basset was living still. Time had swept away all the
gallant brothers and fair sisters who had once been her companions at
Umberleigh: the last to die, seven years before, being the eloquent
orator, George. Yet Philippa lived on,--an old maiden lady, with heart
as warm, and it must be confessed, with tongue as sharp, as in the days
of her girlhood. Time had mellowed her slightly, but had changed
nothing in her but one--for many years had passed now since Philippa was
heard to sneer at Protestantism. She never confessed to any alteration
in her views; perhaps she was hardly conscious of it, so gradually had
it grown upon her. Only those perceived it who saw her seldom: and the
signs were very minute. A passing admission that "may-be folk need not
all be Catholics to get safe up yonder"--meaning, of course, to Heaven;
an absence of the set lips and knitted brows which had formerly attended
the reading of the English Scriptures in church; a courteous reception
of the Protestant Rector; a capability of praying morning and evening
without crucifix or rosary; a quiet dropping of crossings and holy
water, oaths by our Lady's merits and Saint Peter's hosen: a general
calm acquiescence in the new order of things. But how much did it mean?
Only that her eyes were becoming accustomed to the light?--or that age
had weakened her prejudices?--or that God had touched her heart?

Some such thoughts were passing through Barbara's mind, when Lord
Strange's voice reached her understanding again.

"I ensure you 'tis said in the Court that his grief for the beheading of
the Scots Queen is but a blind, [Note 4] and that these two years gone
and more hath King Philip been making ready his galleo