down, poor child,' Lady Pembroke said kindly. 'Yes, Crawley, what is
it?'

For Mistress Crawley now appeared with the letter in her hand, and, with a
low curtsey, presented it to Lady Pembroke.

'An' it please you, Madam, I cannot put up with Mistress Lucy's impudence.
There'll be no law and order amongst the young gentlewomen, over whom you
are pleased to set me, if this young woman is to put me at defiance. Vanity
and thinking of nought but gew-gaws and finery and looking out for
admiration, don't go to make a bower-woman such as a noble lady like
yourself might wish to have in her household. I would humbly say to you, my
lady, that I am not the one to put up with sauce and impudence from a
little country-bred maid you are pleased to take under your patronage.'

'Dear Crawley,' Lady Pembroke said, 'Mistress Forrester is ill at ease at
this moment; the news from her home may well cause her dismay and grief;
leave her to me, and I will let you hear later to what conclusion I have
arrived.'

Mistress Crawley curtseyed again even more profoundly than before, and, as
she left the room, murmured something about 'favourite,' which did not
reach Lady Pembroke's ear, or, if it did, passed unheeded.

Lady Pembroke was sweet and gentle in her manner to all who served her, but
she was not weakly indulgent. Although her heart went out in pity towards
poor Lucy, whom she had watched on the previous day, in the full flush of
delight at her first taste of Court pageantry, and had seen, with some
uneasiness, that her beauty had attracted many eyes, she said gravely,--

'Try to stop weeping, Lucy, and let us think what it will be best to do.
It is well always to look at duty first, and strive after its performance,
with God's help; and I think it will be your duty to return to your sister
in her distress.'

'And leave you for ever, Madam!' Lucy exclaimed passionately.

'Nay, I did not say as much; but, my child, if you return to my household,
it must be understood that you be submissive to Mistress Crawley--an old
and tried friend and servant--who commands respect, and must have it
rendered her.'

'Oh, Madam, I will, I will be submissive, only do not send me quite away.'

It did not escape Lady Pembroke's notice that Lucy's tears and distress
were more for herself and her disappointment than for her sister. Lucy had
never learned a lesson of unselfishness, and she had thought chiefly of her
own pleasure, and how she could es