nk he was not
glad to know that he had done his duty, and rescued his cousin, and had
not, by any meanness or any indecision, brought dishonor on the name of
Arden? As for Elfrida, when she knew the whole story of that night of
rescue, she admired her brother so much that it made him almost
uncomfortable. However, she now looked up to him in all things and
consulted him about everything, and, after all, this is very pleasant
from your sister, especially when every one has been rather in the habit
of suggesting that she is better than you are, as well as cleverer.

To Dickie Lord Arden said, "Of course, if anything _should_ happen to
show that I am really Lord Arden, you won't desert us, Dickie. You shall
go to school with Edred and be brought up like my very own son."

And, like Lord Arden's very own son, Dickie lived at the house in Arden
Castle, and grew to love it more and more. He no longer wanted to get
away from these present times to those old days when James the First was
King. The times you are born in are always more home-like than any other
times can be. When Dickie lived miserably at Deptford he always longed
to go to those old times, as a man who is unhappy at home may wish to
travel to other countries. But a man who is happy in his home does not
want to leave it. And at Arden Dickie was happy. The training he had had
in the old-world life enabled him to take his place and to be
unembarrassed with the Ardens and their friends as he was with the
Beales and theirs. "A little shy," the Ardens' friends told each other,
"but what fine manners! And to think he was only a tramp! Lord Arden has
certainly done wonders with him!"

So Lord Arden got the credit of all that Dickie had learned from his
tutors in James the First's time.

It is not in the nature of any child to brood continually on the past or
the future. The child lives in the present. And Dickie lived at Arden
and loved it, and enjoyed himself; and Lord Arden bought him a pony, so
that his lame foot was hardly any drag at all. The other children had a
donkey-cart, and the three made all sorts of interesting expeditions.

Once they went over to Talbot Court, and saw the secret place where
Edward Talbot had hidden his confession about having stolen the Arden
baby, three generations before. Also they saw the portrait of the Lady
Talbot who had been a Miss Arden. In rose-colored brocade she was, with
a green silk petticoat and her powdered hair dressed h