Lucy Ellen Guernsey

“ I guessed at once she was Lady Frances Brandon, the Duke's youngest daughter, and was in some confusion.
"Nay, do not rise, but play me something else," said she. "I suppose you are my mother's new gentlewoman, of whom I have heard?"
"Yes, madam."
"And I am Lady Frances, and I love music above all things," said she. "I never heard any woman touch the organ as you do. I like it far better than spinet or clavichord, or any of their race, don't you?" ”

“ The very nosegay of flowers on the mantle might have been the same, only that they were spring, instead of autumn, posies. A pretty gown and petticoat of dark blue, with a linen hood, and other things belonging to a young lady's dress, were neatly laid out on the bed.
"My aunt hath provided you with a complete change of raiment, you see!" said Mrs. Philippa, with a kind of bitterness in her tone which I did not then understand.
"She is very kind, indeed, to think of it," said I, and, indeed, I did feel it to be a motherly and kind act, which made my heart warm toward the good woman. ”

“ But you know as well as I, sister, that it is not age, but standing in the house, that settles such matters. Again, as the oldest present, I must request you, sisters, to pursue your work in silence. Prayers and psalms and holy meditations are better fitted for people in our evil case, threatened not only with the death of our reverend mother, but with the loss of all things, than such laughing and gossip as has gone on for the last half hour. I take shame to myself, and thank the child for her reproof, though it might have been more gently spoken. ”

“ What makes thee cry? Tell Aunt Joyce what ails thee, my dear, tender lamb, now do?" said my aunt, who was apt, in times of interest, to return to her native Devon. I remember, as though it were yesterday, how sweetly sounded in mine ears the homely accent, and the words of endearment which I suppose might find some echo in my childish remembrance. Sure 'tis a cruel thing to deprive young creatures of those caresses which even the dumb beasts bestow upon their young. I have always thought that if my lady had been more tender and gentle with poor Randall, he might have been different. ”

“ It was what we call schnapps in Holland, and the flavor is detestable enough to bring a dead man to life if he could but taste it.
"Horrible," said she, making a face like a child taking medicine. "There, I will be good. Forgive me, dear Loveday. Every one is not so strong as you are."
"There, now, you are quite yourself," said I, "and you will be better still when you have had your supper. Shall I order it, Master Batie?"
"If you will," he answered, looking immensely relieved, for he could not speak either Dutch or French, and his Latin was not of much use here. ”

“ Could it be possible that our house would be turned out of windows, as that of the Gray Nuns at Bridgewater had been—that venerable institution founded in the days of the Confessor—and if so, what would become of all? I had not heard from my uncle, nor from Lady Peckham in several years, and knew not whether they were alive or dead. However, I was not so greatly concerned about my own fate. I was young and strong, a good needle-woman and musician, and I thought I could easily find a place as waiting-woman, or to attend upon young gentlewomen. ”

“ My Father had laid this cross upon me, and I would bear it till he saw fit to remove it, or to change it for that crown which he hath promised to them that endure to the end. I had read some romances and tales of maids who died for love or had unworthily cast themselves away. The first might perhaps come—the last I thought never. It seemed to me, and does so seem now, that the very fact of a woman's loving honestly would make her self-respecting and discreet. Passion might make women act unworthily—true love never! ”

“ Have you a woman's heart in your breast, that you speak so to the worse than orphan child?" said my uncle, indignantly.
"Oh, ho! I did not know your worship was so near," answered the old woman, with a cackling laugh. "Methinks we are very tender to heretics—we are!"
"We are tender to other sinners besides heretics, or a wicked, hard-hearted old woman, who owes two quarters rent, would be turned into the street as she deserves," rejoined my aunt, severely. "You had better keep civil words, Dame Davis, at least until you can pay your debts." ”

“ My husband had left his cure in the hands of Sir David Dean, a good and religious priest, but one as absentminded and indifferent to his own comfort as any man I ever saw. He had lived alone in the vicarage all these years without a housekeeper, save that an old woman, living in one of the alms-cottages by the church-gate, now and then came in and scratched about a bit like a hen in a straw-yard. Any one who knows what men are when left to themselves, may guess what condition matters were in after seven or eight years of such housekeeping. ”

“ Walter gave me a look and smile that went to my heart, and Mynheer Bogardus muttered something in his beard about women minding their distaffs—as if I could not spin as well as Gatty any day.
"Then you would not mind going," said Avice, with one of her innocent looks of wonder. "You would not mind leaving us all and going into that wild West Country among the moors and hills." ”

“ He hath ever remained in my mind the very mirror and pattern of a noble man. He was not without his faults (as who is?) , but no one could say he ever curried favor with a great man, or ever oppressed a poor one. Not one of his family, down to the very scullery boys and wenches, ever passed him without a smile or a kind word, and nobody ever sat at his table without feeling himself a welcome guest. He was, indeed, what my uncle Davis had called him, a mirror of true knighthood.
I saw Walter for a few minutes, and then not alone. ”

“ Poor Kate found it a good deal easier to make herself understood than to understand, for the Devon dialect is almost as different from that of London as the Dutch tongue itself. But she was a cheerful, brave little maid, always disposed to make the best of every thing and every body, and though scandalized at the sluttery of the housekeeping, and a little scared at the cliffs and the hills (having never in her life seen any thing higher than a church steeple) , yet she soon made herself at home, and was a wonderful help and comfort to me. ”

“ He was a good-natured looking, easy-going specimen of a regular, and greeted me kindly enough, bestowing his blessing as I kneeled to receive it, in that rapid, mechanical fashion I so well remembered in Father Barnaby and Father John.
"And so you are coming to the convent to be a holy sister, as my good Lady Peckham desires!" said he. Then to my uncle: "In truth, 'tis a fair offering, Master Corbet. I almost wonder that having such a jewel in your hands, you should give her up—that is, if she be as towardly as she is fair of face?" ”

“ We looked at each other without disguise now, so great was our amazement. If the figure of the Holy Virgin in the Lady Chapel had spoken, we should not have been more surprised. But we had not long to indulge our wonder. I saw the mother assistant move nearer to the prioress, and in another instant the poor lady had sunk down in her chair in a fit.
The room was all in confusion for a moment; but nuns, like soldiers, feel the power of habitual discipline, and in a minute or two, mother assistant had restored order. ”

“ Did you never have any study?"
"I used to do my Latin lessons with poor Sister Denys, and afterward with Father Austin," said I; "but we never read any thing but the Imitation and some lives of saints. I began Cæsar's Commentaries when I studied with Father Austin, but I never got on very far."
"You shall finish it with me if you will," said Margaret. "And we will also have some poetry. Latin is a noble tongue."
"Yes, a tongue more fit for the Scriptures and the church service than common English!" said Philippa.
"But Latin was also the vulgar tongue of the Romans, wasn't it, Sister Margaret?" ”

“ Well, it must be confessed, you have lost no time."
"I have but done as Mistress Davis requested," said I, feeling my cheek flame at the tone of supercilious reproof.
"Oh, you are very obedient, no doubt. I should suppose that you owed as much obedience to your religious vows as to—however, that kind of obedience is out of fashion now-a-days."
"I have never taken any vows, Mrs. Philippa," I answered. "And the reverend mother bade me be guided by Mistress Davis in all things. I suppose she knows what is proper for young maids, as we are, better than we can ourselves." ”

“ I told her he was the son-in-law of my good friend, Master Davis, and the husband of my dearest friend.
"Ay," said she, "I heard you call him Master Hall, but is he the man who is noted for selling seditious and heretical books?"
"I dare to say, madam, that he never sold a seditious book in his life!" I answered. "As to heresy, 'tis not so easy to tell in these days what is heresy and what is not."
"And that is true!" said she, relapsing into her usual tone of kindness. "But, Loveday, your friend is in danger. ”

“ I was pleased to meet in one of them a gentleman I had often seen in her Grace of Suffolk's withdrawing-room— one Mr. Evans, a West country man and a great scholar. While I sat talking with him, I heard Avice say to my husband in a tone of surprise—
"But you will never think of leaving us, and returning to England, surely?"
"Of course not," said Mynheer Bogardus, Garrett's uncle, a very rich and consequential merchant, who always seemed to think he was to carry all before him by sheer force of will. "I take it Master Walter is too wise a man to leave certainty for uncertainty." ”

“ My uncle smiled. "Read your Bible from beginning to end, child, and if you can find one word which makes it unlawful for a priest to marry, I give you free leave to call my Katherine by the worst name you can think of."
Somehow these words did seem like a gleam of light on a dark night; but I had no time to dwell on them just now.
"And Avice—?"
"Avice is a widow, or so we fear!" said he. "She married a good man, a merchant, and rich in this world's goods. ”

“ I did never like to be waited upon by an old person. She smiled and acquiesced.
"It is long since I have seen a young face!" said she, sighing, methought, as she spoke. "If my own Loveday had lived, I believe she would have been like you. But the dear babe hath long been in a better place."
"I often think there is, if not a bright, yet a peaceful side to the death of little children," I ventured to say. "One feels so safe about them. The most promising child who lives to grow up may change for the worse. ”

“ I faltered.
"Oh, poor Sambo? I suppose you never saw a blackamoor before. But don't be frightened, child. He is a human creature like ourselves, and hath kind heart, and is a good Christian, too; are you not, Sambo?"
Thereupon the negro made the sign of the cross, and showed me a crucifix which hung about his neck.
"You will soon learn to like him as well as our children do," said my aunt. "Go, Sambo, and bring up the young lady's mails."
Sambo grinned again wider than ever, and betook himself to the side door, where an attendant of my Lord Abbot's was waiting with my baggage. ”

“ We found mine uncle asleep, but a word roused him.
"Now I can give you three hours for your converse," said Master Yates. "The nights are longer than they were, but the stroke of three must be the signal for parting. I dare not make it later lest some one should be stirring."
So saying, he took a rug from the truckle bed, and throwing himself on a heap of straw in the outer room, he soon gave audible tokens of being sound asleep.
"There lies one of the best men ever made!" said mine uncle. ”

“ Are you sure you did not?"
"Yes, aunt; quite sure. Oh, Aunt Joyce, do believe me. I can't live if every one thinks me a liar."
And then I began to cry again. My aunt hushed me and tried to make me eat, but that I could not do. She then undressed me and put me to bed with her blessing. My fierce indignation was all gone by that time, and I began to hope that things would come right after all.
I don't know whether or not my aunt imparted to my uncle her own convictions of my innocence, but if so, she did not succeed in convincing him. ”

“ Only, a few weeks ago I heard that in their contest for liberty with the cruel Spaniards, the Hollanders had cut these same dykes, and let in the salt sea on their grand farms and beautiful towns. Any one who has ever lived in Holland will understand what must have been their zeal for liberty to make them willing to let so much dirt into their houses. I hope with all my heart they may succeed, for if any people on earth have the right to their own country it is the Dutch.
"When shall we be at Rotterdam?" asked my uncle. ”

“ The Duchess seemed to know all, and have a pleasant word for all. The Duke stood near, now and then addressing a word to his wife, and there was ever that interchange of loving and familiar glances so pleasant to see between married people. He was more than old enough to be her father, and, indeed, she was his fourth wife, his third having been the Princess Mary of England, the king's sister, and dowager of France. It was on the occasion of this marriage that he appeared at a tourney in a dress half of cloth of gold and half of frieze, with this motto:
"Cloth of frieze be not too bold. ”

“ Would she, a mere woman, pretend to sit in judgment not only on a bishop and her visitor, but also on the king himself? Was it not her duty as a religious to have no mind of her own, but only to do as she was told?
"You did not think so, reverend father, when the question was of placing an English Bible in the church for the sisters to read when they pleased!" said the prioress. "That was the king's will, too, as I understand, and yet both our visitor and yourself said I was right in refusing, because ours was not a parish church. ”