s so in the world; those get the prize that don't
deserve or care for it. I wish I could give you _your_ silly prize,
cousin, but I can't; I have tried and I can't." And she went away, shaking
her head mournfully, but always, it seemed to Esmond, that her liking and
respect for him was greatly increased, since she knew what capability he
had both to act and bear; to do and to forgo.

Chapter IX. The Original Of The Portrait Comes To England

'Twas announced in the family that my Lord Castlewood would arrive, having
a confidential French gentleman in his suite, who acted as secretary to
his lordship, and who being a Papist, and a foreigner of a good family,
though now in rather a menial place, would have his meals served in his
chamber, and not with the domestics of the house. The viscountess gave up
her bedchamber contiguous to her daughter's, and having a large convenient
closet attached to it, in which a bed was put up, ostensibly for Monsieur
Baptiste, the Frenchman; though, 'tis needless to say, when the doors of
the apartments were locked, and the two guests retired within it, the
young viscount became the servant of the illustrious prince whom he
entertained, and gave up gladly the more convenient and airy chamber and
bed to his master. Madam Beatrix also retired to the upper region, her
chamber being converted into a sitting-room for my lord. The better to
carry the deceit, Beatrix affected to grumble before the servants, and to
be jealous that she was turned out of her chamber to make way for my lord.

No small preparations were made, you may be sure, and no slight tremor of
expectation caused the hearts of the gentle ladies of Castlewood to
flutter, before the arrival of the personages who were about to honour
their house. The chamber was ornamented with flowers; the bed covered with
the very finest of linen; the two ladies insisting on making it
themselves, and kneeling down at the bedside and kissing the sheets out of
respect for the web that was to hold the sacred person of a king. The
toilet was of silver and crystal; there was a copy of _Eikon Basilike_
laid on the writing-table; a portrait of the martyred king hung always
over the mantel, having a sword of my poor Lord Castlewood underneath it,
and a little picture or emblem which the widow loved always to have before
her eyes on waking, and in which the hair of her lord and her two children
was worked together. Her books of private devotions, as th