u think the place was admirably adapted for an
elopement? I am certain--nay, you need not smile--for I am quite
certain, that every one of the seventy-seven maidens, of whom history
tells us, including the charming Ermenilda herself, fully made up their
minds to run off with the Danes before they came to the island. I wish,
though, that your father could be persuaded to consider this only a
summer residence, for it must be a little dreary, I think. Not that I
feel it such, for you are so kind; and just as we were beginning to grow
a little dull or so, a flourish--and enter Walter De Guerre, under the
auspices of Major Wellmore! Ha! ha! ha! Well it has amused me so much.
He certainly is a most charming person; and if _one_, who is not here,
were here, I should be inclined to tease him a little by my vast
admiration of this gentleman. By the way, Sir Willmott Burrell has
little reason to thank Major Wellmore for this new introduction; though
it must be quite delightful to make either a lover or a husband jealous.
Ah, I see you do not agree with me--I did not expect you would; but, do
you know, I have taken it into my head that this De Guerre is not De
Guerre."

"Indeed! who is he then?"

"That, Constantia, is exactly what I want to know--and I think you could
unravel the mystery."

"My dear Frances, you are a very unaccountable person; always playing
false yourself, you hardly ever give people credit for being true."

"You are vastly complimentary. Ah, Constance, when you come to Hampton,
you must learn some court observances. When we were children together,
we spoke truth."

"Were we not very happy then?"

"We were," said Frances, drawing a heavy sigh; "but how changed the
times since then! Constance, those who walk along a precipice may well
dread falling. Gay, giddy as I am, Cromwell has not a child who glories
in him more than I do."

"And well you may," added Constance, whose dignity of soul led her to
appreciate, with as much judgment as enthusiasm, the extraordinary man
who commanded the admiration, not only of England, but of Europe. "Well
may you be proud of the most successful statesman, the most resolute
general, the most useful Christian that ever governed a state. By his
power he holds our enemies in subjection; and guides our friends by his
wisdom. I am but a poor politician, yet, methinks, I could almost
worship your father for the spirit and humanity with which he succours
those poor persecuted Va