ted eyes, with her hand in that
of the young barrister, who knelt on the mother's entrance, and besought
her consent to their union. Confessions of mutual affection ensued, and
Lady Aylesbury was not long in giving her consent to their wishes.

"Give me leave, however," said she to the lover, "to place around your
neck the memorial which I intended for you. The chain"--it was a superb
gold one--"was a token of gratitude, from the ward in which he lived, to
my dear husband." Lady Aylesbury's calm, serious eyes were filled with
tears as she threw the chain round Edward's neck, saying, "These links
were borne on the neck of a worthy and an honoured man. May thou, my
beloved son, attain to still higher honours."

The wish was fulfilled, though not until danger and suffering had tried
severely the parties concerned. The son-in-law of Lady Aylesbury became
an eminent member of the English bar, and also an important speaker in
Parliament.

When Oliver Cromwell brought the king to the scaffold, and established
the Commonwealth, Sir Edward Hyde--for he had held a government post,
and had been knighted--was too prominent a member of the royalist party
to escape the attention of the new rulers, and was obliged to reside
upon the continent till the Restoration.

While abroad, he was so much esteemed by the exiled prince (afterwards
Charles II.) as to be appointed Lord High Chancellor of England, which
appointment was confirmed when the king was restored to his throne. Some
years afterwards, Hyde was elevated to the peerage, first in the rank of
a baron, and subsequently as Earl of Clarendon, a title which he made
famous in English history.

These events, so briefly narrated, occupied considerable time, during
which Lady Aylesbury passed her days in quiet and retirement. She had
now the gratification of beholding her daughter Countess of Clarendon,
and of seeing the grandchildren who had been born to her mingling as
equals with the noblest in the land.

But a still more exalted fate awaited the descendants of the poor
friendless girl who had come to London, in search of service, in a
waggoner's van. Her granddaughter, Anne Hyde, a young lady of spirit,
wit, and beauty, had been appointed, while her family were living
abroad, one of the maids of honour to the Princess of Orange, and in
that situation had attracted so strongly the regard of James, Duke of
York, and brother of Charles II., that he contracted a private marriage
w