g the bell. In a
minute three or four servants made their appearance, and on inquiring, I
found that the Honourable Miss Delmar was at home, and visible.

"Colonel Delmar, I presume, sir?" said the old butler.

"No," replied I--"Captain Keene."

The butler looked me full in the face, and earnestly; and then, as if
recollecting himself, he bowed and went on.

"Captain Keene, madam," said he, as he introduced me into a large room,
at the end of which sat a venerable-looking old lady, very busy with her
knitting needle, and another, almost equally ancient, sitting on a low
stool beside her.

As I advanced, the old lady made me a bow as she remained in in her
chair, and looked at me through her spectacles. She certainly was the
beau-ideal of old age. Her hair, which was like silver, was parted in
braid, and was to be seen just peeping from under her cap and pinners;
she was dressed in black silk, with a snow-white apron and handkerchief,
and there was an air of dignity and refinement about her which made you
feel reverence for her at first sight. As I approached to take the
chair offered to me, the other person, who appeared to be a sort of
attendant, was shuffling her feet to rise; but as soon as Mrs Delmar
had said, "You are welcome, Captain Keene; sit still," she continued,
"my child, there is no occasion to go away." I could scarcely help
smiling at the old lady calling a woman of past sixty, if not even
further advanced, a child; but the fact was, that Phillis had been her
attendant as lady's maid for many years, and subsequently promoted to
the position of humble companion.

As for Miss Delmar, as I afterwards found out from her own lips, she was
upwards of eighty-seven years old, but still in perfect good health, and
in full possession of all her faculties; Phillis therefore was much
younger, and as the old lady had had her in her employ ever since she
was twenty-two, it was not surprising that she continued to address her,
as she had done for so many years, as a young person compared to
herself; indeed I have no doubt but that the old lady, following up her
association of former days, and forgetting the half-century that had
intervened, did consider her as a mere child. The old lady was very
chatty and very polite, and as our conversation naturally turned on Lord
de Versely, of whom I spoke in terms of admiration and gratitude, I had
soon established myself in her good graces. Indeed, as I subsequently