ry!' Lucy exclaimed, 'come forward and
meet them.'

'Yes, mother,' Ambrose said fretfully, dragging at his mother's hand. 'I
thought I was to see Mr Sidney, and that he would let me ride again. I am
so weary and so hungry.'

Lady Pembroke soon tripped up the stone steps, Lady Mary following more
slowly. Lady Pembroke had all the graceful courtesy which distinguished her
brother; and that high-bred manner which, quite apart from anything like
patronage, always sets those who may be on a lower rung of the social
ladder at ease in casual intercourse.

[Illustration: PENSHURST CASTLE, FROM THE PARK.]

There are many who aspire to be thought 'aristocratic' in their manners,
and who may very successfully imitate the dress and surroundings of the
old noblesse. But this gift, which showed so conspicuously in the family of
the Sidneys, is an inheritance, and cannot be really copied. It is so easy
to patronise from a lofty vantage ground, so difficult to make those below
it feel that the distance is not thought of as an impassable gulf, but is
bridged over by the true politeness which lies not on the surface, but has
its root deep in the consideration for others, which finds expression in
forgetfulness of self, and in remembering the feelings and tastes of those
with whom we are brought in contact.

Like the mists of morning under the warm beams of the sun, Mary Gifford's
restraint and shy reserve vanished when Lady Pembroke exclaimed,--

'Ah, here is the little knight that Philip told me of. See, mother, he must
be a playfellow for your Thomas.'

Lady Mary was somewhat breathless. She could not climb the steep, stone
stairs as quickly as her daughter.

'Mistress Gifford must stay and dine with us, Mary, and then Thomas shall
show him the pictures in the new book Philip has brought him from London.'

'Are there pictures of horses and knights, madam?' Ambrose asked.

'They are Bible pictures, boy, but there are warriors amongst them,
doubtless--Joshua and Samson, and, it may be, others.'

The big bell which, to this day, is heard far and near at Penshurst, was
still making its loud, sonorous clang, and Lady Mary, taking Ambrose by the
hand led him along the terrace, his mother at the other side, and Lucy
following with Lady Pembroke.

Instead of immediately beginning to discuss the probability of Lucy's being
placed in her household, Lady Pembroke said,--

'I have not seen you for some time. You have grown apace sinc