h admiring glances; no one else has a chance.'

While George was inwardly fuming against the two men, one rode up to the
booth, and bowing low, till his head nearly swept his horse's neck, he
presented a posy, tied with a blue riband, to Lucy, who smiled and blushed
with delight, quite indifferent to the scowl on George's face, as he sat
grimly on his horse at the further end of the tilting-yard, where he was
stationed, with several others, with a relay of horses in case fresh ones
should be wanted by the combatants.

Unversed in the ways of the Court, George did not know that it was the
habit of gallants to present posies, as they would have said, at the shrine
of beauty. From the Maiden Queen upon the throne to the pretty bower-woman
at her needle, this homage was expected, and received almost as a matter of
course. But George, like many other men of his age, had his special
divinity, and could not endure to see other worshippers at her feet.

All these memories of the two days' tournament occupied George Ratcliffe
during his ride by his brother's side, and kept up a sort of accompaniment
to the measured trot of the horses as they were brought up in the rear by
the servants in charge of them. After a long silence, George said,--

'Did you see Mistress Lucy ere we started, Humphrey, to let her know of her
sister's trouble.'

'No,' was the answer. 'No; I could not get permission to do so, but I sent
a letter by the hand of one of Lord Pembroke's esquires, which would tell
her of her sister's trouble.'

'It was an ill day for me,' George said, 'when Lucy Ratcliffe came to the
Court. I have lost her now.'

'Nay now, George, do not be a craven and lose heart. You may win yet. There
is time, and to spare, before you.'

Thereupon George gave his sturdy roan steed a sharp cut with the whip,
which surprised him greatly. He resented the indignity by plunging from
side to side of the rugged road, and by his heavy gambols sending the other
horses off in a variety of antics.

When the horses were quieted down again, Humphrey said, laughing,--

'Poor old fellow! he doesn't understand why his master should punish him
for the offences of Mistress Lucy Ratcliffe.' Then, more seriously, 'My own
heart is heavy within me, but I try to ease the burden by doing what I can
to relieve the pain of her whom I love. Action is the best cure for heart
sickness.'

'But action is impossible for me, Humphrey. I have only to endure. Here a