a low
reverence; "it shall be found as well appointed as our poor labours
might compass."

He made no answer; but, offering his hand to the young lady who had
alighted from the litter, he led her up the stairs from the
banqueting-hall, into a suite of fair, stately apartments, according to
the taste of that period. Rich tapestry decorated the walls, fresh
green rushes were strewn upon the floor, all the painting had been
renewed, and above the fireplace stood two armorial shields newly
chiselled.

"Lady," he said, in a soft, courtly tone, "here is the bower. Doth it
like the bird?"

"It is beauteous," answered the lady, with a bright smile.

"It hath been anew swept and garnished," replied the master, bowing low,
as he took his leave. "Yonder silver bell shall summon your women."

The lady moved to the casement on his departure. It stood open, and the
lovely sea-view was to be seen from it.

"In good sooth, 'tis a fair spot!" she said half aloud. "And all new
swept and garnished!"

There was no mocking echo in the chamber. If there had been, the words
might have been borne back to the ear of the royal Alianora--"Not only
garnished, but _swept_!"

My Lady touched the silver bell, and a crowd of damsels answered her
call. Among them came Alina; and she held by the hand the little
flaxen-haired child, who had played so prominent a part in the events of
the morning.

"Do you all speak French?" asked the Countess in that language--which,
be it remembered, was in the reign of Edward the Third the mother-tongue
of the English nobles.

She received an affirmative reply from all.

"That is well. See to my sumpter-mules being unladen, and the gear
brought up hither.--What a pretty child! whose is it?"

Alina brought the little girl forward, and answered for her. "The Lady
Philippa Fitzalan, my Lord's daughter."

"My Lord's daughter!" And a visible frown clouded the Countess's brow.
"I knew not he had a daughter--Oh! _that_ child! Take her away--I do
not want her. _Mistress_ Philippa, for the future. That is my
pleasure."

And with a decided pout on her previously smiling lips, the Lady of
Arundel seated herself at her tiring-glass. Alina caught up the child,
and took her away to a distant chamber in a turret of the castle, where
she set her on her knee, and shed a torrent of tears on the little
flaxen head.

"Poor little babe! fatherless and motherless!" she cried. "Would to our
dear Lady tha