DOROTHY'S DOG " 391
V. THE LITTLE LOCKSMITH " 397
ROMANCE IN HISTORY.
HOW CICELY DANCED BEFORE THE KING _Thomas Archer_ 403
A MOTHER OF QUEENS _From "Old Romance"_ 410
THE STORY OF GRIZEL COCHRANE _W. R. C._ 418
A WIFE'S STRATAGEM _Lucy Hardy_ 427
THE KING'S TRAGEDY _Alfred H. Miles_ 434
THE STRANGER _H. G. Bell_ 439
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY _Lady Nithsdale's Records_ 447
SCHOOL AND HOME.
GLORIA DENE'S SCHOOLFELLOWS.
BY NORA RYEMAN.
I.--NARDA: THE NIGHTINGALE.
I.
"Here you are, miss," said the red-faced cabby, putting his head in at
the cab window, "this is Miss Melford's school."
It was a large, many windowed, white house on Hertford Green, in sight
of the famous spires of Silverbridge, and was for some six months to be
both home and school to me, Gloria Dene.
I was late in my arrival, and I was tired, for I had come all the way
from Erlingham in the heart of Norfolk, and moreover, I was hungry, and
just a little homesick, and already wanted to return to the old
homestead and to Uncle Gervase and Aunt Ducie, who had taken the place
of my parents.
The cabman gave a loud rat-a-tat with the lion-headed knocker, and in
due course a rosy-faced servant maid opened the door and ushered me in.
Then she preceded me through a broad flagged hall, lit by crimson
lamps. And as I went I heard a sweet and thrilling voice singing,
"Home, home, sweet, sweet home,
Be it ever so humble there's no place like home."
The words naturally appealed to me, and I exclaimed:
"How lovely! Who is singing?" only to be told that it was Mamselle
Narda, the music mistress.
I thought of the nightingale which sang in our rose bush on summer
nights at home, and found myself wondering what Mamselle was like.
The next day I saw her--Bernarda Torres; she was a brown beauty, with
dark rippling hair, soft dark eyes, and a richly soft complexion, which
put one in mind of a ripe peach on a southern wall.
She was of Spanish extraction, her father (a fruit merchant) hailing
from Granada, her mother from Seville. Narda's path had been strewn with
roses, until a bank failure interrupted a life of happiness, and then
sorr
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