atic raps of her crutches on the stone floor, that Clarice
could scarcely avoid the conclusion that she was a conspirator in the
plot. The head and front of it all, however, was manifestly Earl
Edmund, who received Sir Piers with a smile and no other greeting--a
distinct intimation that it was not the first time they had met that
day.

The wedding--which nobody felt inclined to dispute--was fixed for the
fifteenth of October. The Earl wished it to take place when he could be
present and give away the bride, and he wanted first a fortnight's
retreat at Ashridge, to which place he had arranged to go on the last
day of September. Sir Piers stepped at once into his old position, but
the Earl took Ademar with him to Ashridge. He gave the grant of
Clarice's marriage to Piers himself, in the presence of the household,
with the remark:--

"It will be better in your hands than mine; and there is no time like
the present."

Into Clarice's hand her master put a shining pile of gold for the
purchase of wedding garments and jewellery.

"I am glad," he said, "that your path through life is coming to the
roses now. I would hope the thorns are over for you--at least for some
time. There have been no roses for me; but I can rejoice, I hope, with
those for whom they blossom."

And so he rode away from Berkhamsted, looking back to smile a farewell
to Heliet and Clarice, as they stood watching him in the gateway. Long
years afterwards they remembered that kind, almost affectionate, smile.

As the ladies turned into their own tower, and began to ascend the
staircase--always a slow process with Heliet--Clarice said, "I cannot
understand why our Lord the Earl has such a lonely and sorrowful lot."

"Thou wouldst like to understand everything, Clarice," returned Heliet,
smiling.

"I would!" she answered. "I can understand my own troubles better, for
I know how much there is in me that needs setting right; but he--why he
is almost an angel already."

"Perhaps he would tell thee the same thing," said Heliet. "I am afraid,
dear heart, if thou hadst the graving of our Lord's gems, thou wouldst
stop the tool before the portrait was in sufficient relief."

"But when the portrait _is_ in sufficient relief?" answered Clarice,
earnestly.

"Ah, dear heart!" said Heliet, "neither thine eyes nor mine are fine
enough to judge of that."

"It seems almost a shame to be happy when I know he is not," replied
Clarice, the tears springing