gentlemen in attendance came to the gate to hold it open
for the ladies of the party to pass, the throng assembled in the churchyard
moved up near the porch, and, as Lady Mary came in sight, curtseys from the
women and reverences from the men testified to the esteem in which she was
held.

Lady Pembroke came next, smiling and gracious. On her sweet face were no
lines of the care which marked her mother's, and she looked what she was, a
happy wife and mother.

By her side was Mr Philip Sidney, closely followed by Robert and Thomas,
who imitated his courteous bearing, and doffed their caps and bowed their
heads in acknowledgment of their people's greeting.

The Sidneys were lords of Penshurst in every sense, and the loyalty of
their tenants and dependants was unquestioned. It is not too much to say
that Philip Sidney was regarded with admiration and respect, seldom
equalled, by these simple people in the Kentish village, who felt a right
in him, and a pride, which was perhaps sweeter to him than all the
adulation he won in Elizabeth's Court.

When the Sidneys' large pew was filled with its occupants, the bell
stopped, and the rest of the congregation hastened to fill the benches in
the body of the church.

The service was conducted after the Anglican form of worship, but differed
in some respects from that of the present day. The Puritans of those times
were making every effort to get rid of what, in their eyes, were useless
forms and ceremonies, and in many places in England dissension was rife,
and the dread of Popish innovations, or rather a return to Popish
practices, was mingled with fierce hatred of Papists, and apprehension of
their designs against the life of the Queen.

The Sidneys were staunch adherents of the reformed faith, and Philip Sidney
was the staunchest of all. He could never forget the atrocities of that
summer night in Paris, when the treachery of the king and his mother
resulted in the massacre of innocent men and women, whose only crime was
their devotion to the faith for which they died.

Philip Sidney had, as we know, protested with bold sincerity against the
Queen's marriage with the Duke of Anjou, urging the danger to the
Protestant cause in England, if the Queen should persist in her
determination.

Now several years had passed, and he had regained Elizabeth's favour, and
had withdrawn his opposition.

The French Ambassadors, who were to arrive in England in the following
week, were