an elastic mind, I must say, and appeared
satisfactorily shocked when I told her how the Cross would have been
chopped up by Paving Commissioners in the eighteenth century if the
people hadn't howled for its salvation.

The same sort of fellows did dump AElfred and his queen out of their
comfortable stone coffins, you know, to use the stone. Brutes! What was
St. Swithin thinking of to let them do it? A mercy it didn't occur to
some commission to take down Stonehenge. They could have made a lot of
streets with that.

In the Market Place, too, there was the ancient Fair of Winchester to
think of, the fair that had no rival except Beaucaire; and I had been
telling them all, on the way into the town, how the woods round the city
used to swarm with robbers, hoping to plunder the rich merchants from
far countries. Altogether, I fancy even Dick was somewhat impressed by
the ancient as well as modern importance of Winchester by the time we
drove to the hotel.

By and by, when we had our rooms and were washed and refreshed, we drank
tea in the garden, where old-fashioned flowers were sweet; plenty of
roses, stocks, and pansies. (I had an old Scottish nurse when I was a
foot or two high, and I've never forgotten what she said about pansies.
"They have aye the face of a smacked cat!" It's true, isn't it? A cat
glares and puts its ears back when it's smacked. Not that I ever smacked
one to see.)

Afterward, I was not of a mind to propose anything. I thought each had
better follow his or her inclination for what was left of the day; and
mine was to stroll out and review old memories. I should have liked to
take Ellaline, but fancied she might prefer society nearer her own age.
However, I came across her in the High Street, alone, gazing fascinated
at the window of an antique shop. There are some attractive ones in
Winchester.

I wasn't sure if she weren't waiting for Dick, who might have strolled
away from her for a minute, so I would have passed on if she hadn't
turned.

"Did you ever see anything so beautiful?" she asked me.

I had, but I didn't say so. I liked her to like everything in my
Winchester, so I inquired what she admired most in the shop window. She
hardly knew. But there was some wonderful old jewellery.

The girl was right. The antique jewellery was particularly good. There
were some admirable necklaces and rings, with fine stones.

"What's your birth month?" I asked, on a sudden thought.

"July," said sh