grand show, and it may be that
some great lady may take a fancy for her, and she may win a place as
waiting-woman about the person of some Court dame. Do you consent? Do you
give me permission to try?'

'But Lucy is not in favour with your mother; she disdains us as beneath her
notice.'

'Not you--not Lucy; it is your father's widow whom she mislikes. Her
Puritan whims and fancies are a cause of offence, and no aversions are so
strong as those begotten by religious difference.'

'That is so, alas!' Mary Gifford said. 'Persecution for diversity of faith,
rather for diversity in the form of worship: it is this that tears this
country into baleful divisions, and pierces it with wounds which are slow
to heal.'

'That is true,' Humphrey said; 'and the law, condemning all Papists to
suffer extreme penalty, if found worshipping God after their own manner,
has a cruel significance. But we must not forget the fires of Smithfield,
nor the horrors to which this country was subjected when Spanish influence
was at work with a Papist queen on the throne.'

'No,' Mary said in a low voice. 'Nor can we forget the grey head of that
queen's dearest friend, which was brought to the block, and stirred the
bitterness of revenge in Queen Mary's heart.'

'Well,' Humphrey said, 'I am vowed to resist, with all possible might, the
encroachments of Spain,--which means the plotting of Philip to force the
religion of the Pope upon an unwilling people--in the Low Countries first,
and then, believe me, he will not stop there. Mr Sidney's protest against
the Queen's marriage with the Duc of Anjou was founded on the horror he
felt of seeing this realm given over once more to the power of the Pope. Mr
Sidney saw, with his own eyes, the Massacre of St Bartholomew; and what
security could there be if any of this crafty Medici race should be set on
high in this country?'

'Mr Sidney has changed somewhat in his views. Is it not so?' Mary asked.

'He has submitted to the inevitable--that is to say, finding the Queen
determined, he, with Lord Burleigh and others in high office, will confer
with the ambassadors who come from France for the purpose--praying
secretly, however, that the whole matter may fall to pieces. And, indeed,
this is likely. The Queen's highness is loth to lose her supremacy, and
there are favourites at Court who would ill brook to be displaced by a
rival power. My lord the Earl of Leicester is one, though he hides his real
feeling