ight," This was a younger brother of Earl Richard;
and his wife was Sybil Montacute, a daughter of the Lollard House of
Salisbury. It is probable, though no certainty has yet been found, that
Mary L'Estrange was also a daughter of Sir Edmund, since dates
conclusively show that she cannot have been the daughter of Alianora of
Lancaster. She died August 29, 1396, leaving an only child, Ankaretta
Talbot. (I.P.M. 20 R. II., 48).

As early, therefore, as I have the opportunity of doing it, I make the
_amende honorable_ to my readers for having unwittingly misled them on
this point. It is scarcely a discredit not to have known a fact which
was known to none. The tale must therefore be regarded as pure fiction,
so far as Philippa is concerned; for Isabel La Despenser apparently had
no child. The facts remain the same as regards other persons, where
their history is not affected by the discovery.

Philippa Sergeaux is represented in the opening of the story as a child
of three years old. It is more than probable that she was about ten
years younger. The date of her marriage is not on record. She was
eventually the mother of five children, though all were born subsequent
to the period at which my story closes. They were--Richard, born
December 21, 1376, and died issueless, June 24, 1396; Elizabeth, born
1379, wife of Sir William Marny; Philippa, born 1381, wife of Robert
Passele; Alice, born at Kilquyt, September 1, 1384, wife of Guy de Saint
Albino; Joan, born 1393, died February 21, 1400. Philippa became a
widow, September 30, 1393, and died September 13, 1399. (I.P.M., 17
Ric. II., 53; 21 Ric. II., 50; 1 H. IV., 14, 23, 24.)

Some of the Christian names may strike the reader as having a very
modern sound. I may therefore note that not one name occurs in the
story which is not authenticated by its appearance in the state papers
of the time.

It only remains to be added, that the fictitious characters of the tale
are Giles de Edingdon and Guy of Ashridge, the nurse Alina, Agnes the
lavender, the nuns Laura and Senicula, and the woodcutter's children
Elaine and Annora. The details given of Earl Richard's will are true;
but the presence of the Earl and Sir Richard Sergeaux in the train of
John of Gaunt in Guienne, has been assumed for the purposes of the
story.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Well in the Desert, by Emily Sarah Holt

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