e my marriage.
Yet my brother, when he spoke of you, called you Mistress Gifford's little
sister. You are taller than I am, methinks.'

Lucy's face glowed with pleasure, as Lady Pembroke said this.

'And most like you have yet to grow a few inches.'

'Nay, madam; I am near sixteen.'

'And is sixteen too old to grow? I think not. It is the age to grow in
wisdom as well as in stature.'

'I would fain grow in the first, madam,' Lucy said, 'if only to please
Mary, who is so good to me--my only friend.'

'I forgot you have no mother, poor child.'

'Nay, madam; only a cross-grained stepmother. Mary bears her quips and
cranks like a saint. I cannot do so.'

'It is well to try to bear what you term quips and cranks. But we must
repair to the hall now,' Lady Pembroke said; and then, addressing a
gentlewoman who was standing at the lower end of the long table, she said,
'Mistress Crawley, be so good as to make room for Mistress Lucy Forrester
at your side. She dines here to-day with Mistress Gifford.'

Mary already had her place pointed out to her, a little higher up the board
with Ambrose; and the Countess of Pembroke, with a smile, said, as she
passed to the gentleman who presided,--

'See that the young knight has sweet things enough to please his palate;
and be sure, Master Pearson, that Mistress Gifford is well attended by the
serving-men.'

The family and principal guests sat at the upper end of the hall, and
amongst them was Mr Sidney's lifelong friend, Sir Fulke Greville.

There was a few moments' silence, when the chaplain, raising his hand, said
a Latin grace; and then there was a clatter of trenchers, and the quick
passing to and fro of the serving-men, and the sound of many voices as the
meal proceeded.

That hospitable board of the Sidneys was always well spread, and to-day, at
the upper end, Lady Mary had provided the best of viands for the
entertainment of her daughter, and of her favourite son and his friend.

Lady Mary's face was shining with motherly pride as she looked at Philip
and her fair daughter, who joined with keen delight in the conversation in
which the two friends took the lead--her quick and ready appreciation of
the subjects under discussion winning a smile from her brother, who
continually referred to her, if on any point he and his friend held
different opinions. Indeed, the Countess of Pembroke was not far behind her
brother in intellectual gifts. The French and Italian literature