looking down from his altitude upon the
slight frail figure at his side. "Is he not a noble man and a goodly?"

"I know not," answered Margery, still in a troubled voice. "There is a
thing in his face for which I find not words, but it troubleth me."

"Look not on him, then," said he, drawing her away. She thanked him for
his kindness in showing and explaining the glittering scene to her, and
returned to her supervision of Alice.

A few days after this, the Prioress of Kennington, Lord Marnell's
sister, came in her litter to see her young sister-in-law. Margery was
surprised to find in her a lady so little resembling her country-formed
idea of a nun. She wore, indeed, the costume of her order; but her
dress, instead of being common serge or camlet, was black velvet; her
frontlet and barb [see Note 2] were elaborately embroidered; her long
gloves [see Note 3] were of white Spanish leather, delicately perfumed,
and adorned with needlework in coloured silks; she wore nearly as many
rings as would have stocked a small jeweller's shop, and from her
girdle, set with the finest gems, were suspended a pomander richly
worked in gold and enamel, a large silver seal, and a rosary, made of
amethyst beads, holding a crucifix, the materials of which were
alabaster and gold.

In those palmy days of Romanism in England, nuns were by no means so
strictly secluded as now. They were present at all manner of
festivities; the higher class travelled about the country very much as
they chose, and all of them, while retaining the peculiar shape and
colour of the prescribed monastic costume, contrived to spend a fortune
on the accessories and details of their dress. The Prioress of
Kennington, as I have just described her, is a specimen of nearly all
the prioresses and other conventual authorities of her day.

This handsomely-dressed lady was stiff and stately in her manner, and
uttered, with the proudest mien, words expressive only of the most
abject humility. "If her fair sister would come and see her at her poor
house at Kennington, she would be right glad of so great honour."
Margery replied courteously, but she had no desire to see much of the
Prioress.

Lord Marnell took his wife to Court, and presented her to the King--the
Queen was dead--and the Duchess of Gloucester [Eleanor Bohu], his aunt.
The King spoke to Margery very kindly, and won her good opinion by so
doing. The Duchess honoured her with a haughty stare, and th