ter than a girl's gift. And yet I should like to give you
something, such as ladies give their knights who have done brave deeds
for them. It must be something quite my own, and you must take it as a
keepsake. What shall it be, mamma?"

"Give him the bracelet which your cousin gave you last week," her mother
said; "I would rather that you did not keep it, and I know you are not
very fond of him."

"I can't bear him," the girl said earnestly, "and I wish he would not
kiss me; he always looks as if he were going to bite, and I will gladly
give his bracelet to this brave boy."

"Very well, Edith, fetch the bracelet from that coffer in the corner."

The girl went to the coffer and brought out the little bracelet, then
she approached Walter.

"You must go down on your knee," she said; "true knights always do that
to receive their lady's gifts. Now hold out your hand. There," she
went on in a pretty imperious way, "take this gage as a reward of your
valour, and act ever as a true knight in the service of your lady."

Bending down she dropt a kiss upon Walter's glowing cheek, and then,
half frightened at her own temerity, ran back to her mother's side.

"And now," Dame Vernon went on, "will you thank your five comrades for
their service in the matter, and give them each two gold pieces to spend
as they will."

"He is a noble lad," Dame Vernon had said to herself when Walter had
taken his leave. "Would he had been the son of one of the nobles of the
court! It might have been then, if he distinguished himself in war, as
he would surely do, that the king might have assigned Edith to him. As
her lord and guardian he is certain to give her hand as a reward for
valour in the field, and it may well be to a man with whom she would
be less happy than with this 'prentice lad; but there, I need not be
troubling myself about a matter which is five or six years distant yet.
Still the thought that Edith is a ward of the crown, and that her hand
must go where the king wills, often troubles me. However, I have a good
friend in the queen, who will, I know, exert what influence she has in
getting me a good husband for my child. But even for myself I have some
fears, since the king hinted, when last he saw me, that it was time I
looked out for another mate, for that the vassal of Westerham and Hyde
needed a lord to lead them in the field. However, I hope that my answer
that they were always at his service under the leading of my cousin