f their guide. At sight
of the coat of arms, however, he stopped and whistled.

"By all that's wonderful, that's our family crest!" he exclaimed.

Here was an excitement! At once the whole party began to examine the
ancient, worn escutcheon, on which was depicted a chained eagle with a
crown on its head, three arrows, and the motto _Manu et corde_ (with
hand and heart).

"It's _exactly_ the same!" declared Lenox. "Dad has a copy of the crest
in an old book that his grandfather brought out from England more than a
hundred years ago."

"It's the arms of the de Cliffords," said their guide, shaken out of her
sing-song recitation into first-hand information. "You'll find the same
crest on those monuments over there in the nave."

"Dad always said we were descended from an old family," rejoined Lenox,
immensely thrilled.

That their young cousin should have discovered the tombs of his
ancestors in the village church was certainly a matter of great interest
to the Hewlitts. They besieged their guide with questions. She could not
really tell them very much, except that from mediaeval times the
Cliffords had owned the soil, and that the Manor House was now in the
possession of Mrs. Elliot, a daughter of old Squire Clifford who had
died many years ago.

"It was before I was born, but I've heard my father speak of him," she
added.

"Where is the Manor House?" asked Lenox eagerly.

"Two miles beyond the village. It's a beautiful old place too, with a
moat round it, and big stone gates."

"Is it possible to look over it?"

The guide shook her head emphatically.

"No. Mrs. Elliot won't have anyone coming. She's an old lady and very
infirm, and she can't bear to see strangers about the place. At one time
she'd let people look round with a guide, but she found them so
bothersome she stopped it. One day some Americans came and peeped
through the windows when she was having her lunch, and wouldn't go
away."

"I'm sorry they were Americans," put in Mrs. Hewlitt. "My countrymen
don't often so forget their manners, I'm glad to say."

"Well, at any rate," smiled the guide, "both English and Americans made
themselves nuisances, and she wouldn't let any more tourists come near.
She has the great gates locked, and whoever wants to go in, no matter on
what errand, must ring the lodge-keeper's bell, and it's only her own
visitors, or the tradespeople with meat and groceries and such like as
are admitted. They say she's gone al