on her other hand, the Duchess being on the left
of the King. All the invited ladies were robed uniformly in green and
white, the prize-giver herself excepted. The knights were attired as
Clement had described them. I am not about to describe the tournament,
which, after all, was only a glorified prize-fight, and, therefore,
suited to days when few gentlemen could read, and no forks were used for
meals. We call ourselves civilised now, yet some who consider
themselves such, seem to entertain a desire to return to barbarism.
Human nature, in truth, is the same in all ages, and what is called
culture is only a thin veneer. Nothing but to be made partaker of the
Divine nature will implant the heavenly taste.

The knights who were acclaimed victors, or at least the best jousters on
the field, were led up to the royal stand, and knelt before the queen of
the jousts, who placed a gold chaplet on the head of the first, and tied
a silken scarf round the shoulders of the second and third. Happily, no
one was killed or even seriously injured--not a very unusual state of
things. At a tournament eighteen years later, the Duke of Lancaster's
son-in-law, the last of the Earls of Pembroke, was left dead upon the
field.

Alexandra and Ricarda came back very tired, and not in exceptionally
good tempers, as Amphillis soon found out, since she was invariably a
sufferer on these occasions. They declared themselves, the next
morning, far too weary to put in a single stitch; and occupied
themselves chiefly in looking out of the window and exchanging airy
nothings with customers. But when Clement came in the afternoon with an
invitation to a dance at his mother's house, their exhausted energies
rallied surprisingly, and they were quite able to go, though the same
farce was played over again on the ensuing morning.

By dint of working early and late, Amphillis was just ready on the day
appointed--small thanks to her cousins, who not only shirked her work,
but were continually summoning her from it to do theirs. Mr Altham
gave his niece some good advice, along with a handsome silver brooch, a
net of gold tissue for her hair, commonly called a crespine or dovecote,
and a girdle of black leather, set with bosses of silver-gilt. These
were the most valuable articles that had ever yet been in her
possession, and Amphillis felt herself very rich, though she could have
dispensed with Ricarda's envious admiration of her treasures, and
A