Lady Frances

“ Lady Frances looked at her in some wonder.
“She is a lady when all is said and done,” she said to herself. “As to poverty, I do not know that I ever saw any one so badly dressed; the child has not sufficient clothing to keep her warm. When last I saw her she was painfully thin, too; she has more color in her cheeks now, and more flesh on her poor young bones, so perhaps whoever she lives with is taking better care of her. ”

“ The older she grew the more difficult it was for her mother to control her. An only child and much petted, notwithstanding the Princess's severity, she was able to throw off the court etiquette, and form many acquaintances and love intrigues. She did not seem to care much about the future. She looked upon matrimony as upon freedom from a yoke which she could not bear.
A few days after the news of the King's death, when the court was obliged to go into mourning and all amusements were stopped, Lady Frances was bored more than ever. ”

“ Ah, my lady! love makes all things gentle."
"I wonder," observed Lady Frances, "will she turn Christian?"
"She has been a kind nurse to me, in my trouble," replied the puritan; "but our good preacher says her heart is far from being humbled. She has a high mind, and is proud of her tribe. While we were in the cell, Master Fleetword took a deal of pains with her, and expoundiated most wonderfully for hours together ”

“ As the Story Lady ceased speaking, the actors vanished from the magic circle into thin air.
“Oh, I wish I could learn to tell stories like that!” exclaimed Mary Frances.
“You can,” said the Story King, heartily; “for you have come to the home of good story-tellers.”
161 “Yes, you can, my dear, because you love stories,” said the Story Queen.
“And for that reason you will always be young,” added the Story King; “for good story-tellers never grow old.”
“It seems too good to be true; the Story Lady is so wonderful,” returned Mary Frances. ”

“ To Mary Frances’ amazement, Pen Cil marked off the muslin like this:
“You may retire,” said Fairy Lady, “Thank you,―and Mary Frances, child, you may sew the muslin very much as you did the Canvas Sampler, with that finer red D. M. C. cotton, No. 12.”
“Am I to be forgotten?” came a tinkling sound from Mary Frances’ basket, as she started to sew.
“Who is that?” asked Mary Frances peeping over the edge.
“I’m Thimble!” exclaimed a wee little voice, “and the reason I always wear my helmet, is that I want to wield my sword,” as Mary Frances lifted him out. ”

“ The Lady Frances might easily have been selected as the head of one or other of the numerous parties then existing in England, in order that she should become a possible successor or even rival to Queen Mary. The fact that she was the wife of a “base-born knave” made it almost an impossibility that she could be used as a tool against the queen. The people would never have accepted her as a ruler, nor would they have allowed her offspring, notwithstanding the example of Katherine of Valois and Owen Tudor, to have succeeded to the Throne. ”

“ Frances looked up in surprise, and he repeated his question.
"What is that to you, fellow?" asked Frances.
"It is this, my lady," returned the porter. "If my lady be a maid, she must pay me one of her garters as her admission fee to this inn. If she be madam, she enters free. It is a privilege conferred on the Maid's Garter by good St. Augustine when he was Bishop of Canterbury, so long ago that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary."
"What nonsense is this?" asked Frances, turning to me, and Bettina asked the same question with her eyes. ”

“ Miss Agnes Strickland and other historians have fallen into the error of stating that Mary Tudor appointed the Lady Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, to be one of her women of the bedchamber, and her two daughters, the Ladies Katherine and Mary Grey, maids of honour. A little reflection will show that such appointments were as impossible in Mary’s time, as it would be, in our day, for Her present Majesty, to name the Duchess of Fife and her children, or the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, to similar positions in her household. ”

“ Mistress Maud sneered, and examined a third jelly, which she was reluctantly compelled to quit by a summons from her lady.
"What robe would your ladyship desire?" she inquired of Lady Frances, whose eyes were red with weeping, and who appeared astonishingly careless upon a point that usually occupied much of her attention. "Would your ladyship like the [291] white and silver, with the pearl loopings and diamond stomacher?" ”

“ When Mary Frances opened her eyes, there sat the loveliest, sweetest little fairy lady on the edge of the table in place of Sewing Bird;―only Mary Frances noticed her lips looked very much like the bill of a bird. ”

“ She bore witness, in after years, to the kindness and consideration she had received from Queen Mary, and the precedence accorded to her on all state occasions as a princess of the blood, allowing her to walk before any of the other great ladies of the court, excepting the Princess Elizabeth, the Lady Frances, and Henry VIII’s fourth wife and only surviving widow, Anne of Cleves. Queen Mary, unlike her successor Elizabeth, insisted upon her ladies and maids of honour paying the utmost attention to their religious duties, and was, moreover, very vigilant as to their manners and their morals. ”

“ Meanwhile, in March 1559, the Lady Frances being still very sick, her daughters were once more sent for, and, with the queen’s permission, arrived at the Charterhouse at Sheen one windy day towards evening. The scheme for the marriage of Lady Katherine with young Hertford was now revived with greater vigour than ever.
The Lady Frances was in such very bad health that she evidently wished, before leaving this [136] world, to provide her eldest surviving daughter with a husband. The Lady Frances had recently given birth to a child, which, notwithstanding the attention and skill of Dr. ”

“ Oh! Oh!” she cried. “I know, Nanny dear, I know! Mary Marie is my dear new dolly. I do wonder what she will be like! Isn’t Mother too sweet and kind!”
“There’s the postman,” said Grandma, all laughter and smiles. “I wonder if he―” but Mary Frances was already at the door.
“A letter
from
Father!”
“Surely enough,” she cried. “A letter from Father. I’ll read it to you, Grandma―” tearing open the envelope:
Dear Mary Frances:―
Mother bought for you to-day the prettiest doll in San Francisco, and she is going to send it by express, as soon as she gets some shopping done for the young lady. ”

“ The gentleman is distinctly plain and common looking—he might indeed be a groom, with his ginger hair, his colourless eyes and rather silly expression. He wears a very rich doublet of black velvet, furred with ermine; whereas the Lady Frances, a buxom, but sour and ill-tempered looking lady, bearing a strange resemblance to her uncle, Henry VIII, is attired in a dress of black satin, with a jewelled pattern. She wears the well-known Mary Stuart coif and some fine jewels. ”

“ She is like no other woman—I love her.”
“Leave my kinswoman to me, sire; only consent and I will answer for her. But, my lord, forgive me if I say that if you thus half-hearted enter into this scheme, you will bring more calamity on Castile, more war and misery than we have now to battle with. Women, my liege, are but cheap in your eyes as yet. But any wrong done to a royal princess such as the Lady Blanche, any insult, any dishonour”—the king looks up sharply—“would bring on us the whole power of France. Your Highness knows it,” he adds deprecatingly, watching the king’s grave face. ”

“ We’ll make for a doll
We almost adore.”
“A pinafore”
“A pinafore!―Sewing Bird Lady,” exclaimed Mary Frances. “An apron for Mary Marie?”
“Yes,” smiled Fairy Lady, “a big apron which she can use as a dress until you make her some dresses―then she can use it as a ‘cover-me-up’ apron.”
“Oh, good!” said Mary Frances, “and, dear Fairy Lady, I want to tell you―I’ve a lovely surprise! My Aunt Maria is coming to see us.”
“Aunt Maria―oh, does she love sewing?” ”

“ And making of clothes,”
sang Sewing Bird.
“She’s not only sweet,
But timely and neat”
“She certainly does, dear Magic and Mystery,” laughed Mary Frances. Then to Fairy Lady,―“and I shall need your help so much! I’m simply too excited [Pg 118] to tell you rightly about all the rest of my perfectly beautiful surprise―but I will try.”
Then she told of Mary Marie and her trunk.
“Bring in the trunk,―will you, please?” asked Fairy Lady, who had come at once, in answer to the magic word.
“I’m the
richest
Mother in
the world”
“Yes, indeed!” said Mary Frances ”

“ I want to teach her to sew some day―may I, Fairy Lady?”
“Lottie is lots of fun”
[Pg 206]
“Oh, to be sure,” said Fairy Lady, “after you have finished with us.”
“But I don’t want you to be Never-Nevers!” said Mary Frances.
“Perhaps there’ll be a way,” suggested Fairy Lady.
“For
Billy”
“How delightful!” exclaimed Mary Frances. “Oh, I want to show you the pillow cover I bought to-day for Billy.”
“How lovely!” exclaimed Scissors Shears, Silver Thimble, Needle Book, Tommy Pin Cushion, and Emery Bag, all at once.
“Yes, isn’t it? Let me read you his letter:”
Woodcraft Camp. ”

“ We think
or see”
“But you will finish them quite soon,” said Fairy Lady, “I feel certain.”
“You do believe in me, dear little Lady,” said Mary Frances.
“Faith in us
Makes us do, and be,
Far better than
We think or see,”
sang Sewing Bird.
“If she doesn’t get them done soon, Mary Marie will lose her bath,” whispered Tommy Pin Cushion, giggling, and he began to recite,―
“Oh, Missy, may I go in to swim? ”

“ Fold back the bonnet band through the middle. (See dotted line on pattern.)
“My dear Thimble People!” exclaimed Mary Frances, after working a long while with the Needle-of-Don’t-Have-to-Try. “Never did a child have such lovely friends―never! Look at this dear little coat!”
“We love all children who are patient, and try to do their best!” smiled Fairy Lady. “So many are forgetful, or impolite and impatient.”
“I’m afraid I’m sometimes all of those,” said Mary Frances.
“But in your very down-deep heart,
You never think the things that smart ”

“ Wind thread around stitches
[Pg 162]
“Oh, dear Aunt Maria, how perfectly grand!” kissing the old lady again and again. “Have you had lunch? Grandma always takes an outing on Wednesday afternoons, and she’ll be so sorry not to be home to welcome you!”
“But I feel very welcome,” laughed Aunt Maria, “and I have had lunch, thank you, my dear.”
“Then you can come right up-stairs,” said Mary Frances, leading the way to the guest-room. ”

“ Lady Harrington now rose slowly and gloomily from her seat, and walked to the place where Helen lay, her head supported by the arm of Colonel Harrington; every tinge of colour fled from her cheeks, her eyes closed, and no symptom of life remaining, excepting that tears from time to time escaped from beneath her long eyelashes.
It is difficult to see a person one has ever loved, asleep, and yet retain anger towards them ”

“ Miss Frances she's jis' naturally born to rule some man in dat sassy, sweet way she got, an' Marse Edward he look lak he suttinly would lak to be dat man; but Miss Frances," the old darkey shook her head, "I don't know 'bout her, dat I don't."
Miss Frances was putting Lady through her paces, despite red clay and mire and shallow pools where the water yet stood. Heavy black clouds were shouldering above the mountain peaks; the wind was from the east and stung sharply against their faces. ”

“ NOW, you must know that the Story People met at a certain hour every day to hear and to tell stories, new and old; for, as you may well believe, it is no small task to provide stories enough to feed the story-hungry children of the world.
Accordingly, when all were assembled, the Story King in his place, and Mary Frances in the seat of honor beside the Story Queen, the Story Lady began to tell the story of Mischievous Anna and Peter. ”

“ And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to marry my little Lord Derford."
"Would you only, then," said Cecilia, "have me regain my freedom in order to part with it?"
"Certainly," answered Lady Honoria, "for you can do nothing at all without being married; a single woman is a thousand times more shackled than a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know, has nothing to do but just to manage her husband." ”

“ I am staying in a semi-foreign hotel which is tucked away in a pocket in the side of a mountain as comfy as a fat old lady in a big rocker who glories in dispensing hospitality with both hands. Just let me put my head out of my room door and the hall fairly blossoms with little maids eager to serve. A step toward the entrance brings to life a small army of attendants bending as they come like animated jack-knives on a live wire. ”

“ In most things the begoggled lady was a visionary with a theory that if you don't talk about a thing it does not exist; and like most of her kind she swept the disagreeables into a dust heap and made for the high places where all was lovely. And yet she had toiled with the girl through all the difficulties of the Japanese language; and, to give her a musical education, had pinched to the point of buying one hat in eight years!
Now it is all done and Sada is launched on the high seas of life with a pleasure-house for a home and an unscrupulous Uncle with unlimited authority for a chaperon. ”

“ If he sees a lady in distress for her carriage, he is to enquire of her what is the matter, and then, with a shrug, wish her well through her fatigues, wink at some bye-stander, and walk away. If he is in a room where there is a crowd of company, and a scarcity of seats, he must early ensure one of the best in the place, be blind to all looks of fatigue, and deaf to all hints of assistance, and seeming totally to forget himself, lounge at his ease, and appear an unconscious spectator of what is going forward. ”