ng like turtle doves through the park and down the village; or,
walking along by the hedges and gathering hyacinths and violets. It was
a sorry time, though, when he took her away for good and all."

"Is the young lady living near this?" inquired Mrs. Yates, with an
effort.

"Near this, my good woman! Why, she has been dead these many years, and
Lord Hope had been married to his second wife ten years, when my first
lass was born; but he lives at Oakhurst, and never comes here now. No
one, in these parts, has seen his second lady, for the countess was
sadly put out with the marriage, and all her household was forbidden to
mention Lord Hope's name before her. She never got over the death of our
own young lady in foreign parts, off in America among the red Indians,
who tomahawk people, and no one asks why. This was where Lord Hope took
his wife and child. Can any one wonder that our countess could not
forgive him, especially when he came back home with a new wife, and
stood out that his daughter should never come to Houghton, till our old
lady up yonder was ready to be gracious to the new woman."

"So the child was never at the castle?" inquired the old woman.

"No one hereabouts has ever seen her, though we are told that she is a
beautiful young lady, sweet and pleasant, but with a will of her own.
The old countess sent for her once, for she must be heiress of Houghton,
you know; but she sent back word that nothing could entice her into a
house where her stepmother was forbidden to come, and this so offended
our countess, that she has taken no notice of her since."

While she was talking, the landlady poured a measure of frothing ale
into the porringer, and became all at once silent. The delicate art of
curding the milk into whey took up all her attention. Thus the old lady
was allowed to drop into a fit of thought, from which she was aroused,
with a start, when the hostess poured the warm posset into a china bowl
and began stirring it with a heavy silver spoon, as she called out:

"Come to the table, grandame, and sup the posset while it is hot. You'll
not get its fellow till I turn my hand to another for ye. Come, come!"

Mrs. Yates drew her chair to the table, and took up the silver spoon,
eagerly. Poor woman! She had travelled all day without tasting food, and
the posset took her from a very painful train of thought.

The hostess sat down at one end of the table, smiling blandly over the
keen appetite of her gu