afraid of them. Then after greeting the Cardinal,
who had risen on his entrance, he said that, hearing that his fair
cousins were arrived, he had come to welcome them, and to entreat them
to let him do them such honour as was possible in a court without a
queen.

'The which lack will soon be remedied,' put in his grand-uncle.

'Truly you are in holy keeping here,' said the pious young King,
crossing himself, 'but I trust, my sweet cousins, that you will favour
my poor house at Westminster with your presence at a supper, and share
such entertainment as is in our power to provide.'

'My nieces are keeping their mourning for their mother, from which they
have hitherto been hindered by the tumults of their kingdom,' said the
Cardinal.

'Ah!' said the King, crossing himself, and instantly moved, 'far be it
from me to break into their holy retirement for such a purpose.' (Jean
could have bitten the Cardinal.) 'But I will take order with my Lord
Abbot of Westminster for a grand requiem mass for the good Queen Joanna,
at which they will, I trust, be present, and they will honour my poor
table afterwards.'

To refuse this was quite impossible, and the day was to be fixed after
reference to the Abbess. Meantime the King's eye was caught by the
illuminated breviary. He was a connoisseur in such arts, and eagerly
stood up to look at it as it lay on the desk. Eleanor could not but come
and direct him to the pages with which she had been most delighted. She
found him looking at Jacob's dream on the one side, the Ascension on the
other.

'How marvellous it is!' she said. 'It is like the very light from the
sky!'

'Light from heaven,' said the King; 'Jacob has found it among the
stones. Wandering and homelessness are his first step in the ladder to
heaven!'

'Ah, sir, did you say that to comfort and hearten us?' said Eleanor.

There was a strange look in the startled blue eyes that met hers. 'Nay,
truly, lady, I presumed not so far! I was but wondering whether those
who are born to have all the world are in the way of the stair to
heaven.'

Meantime the King of Wight had made his request for the presence of
the ladies at a supper at Warwick House, and Jean, clasping her hands,
implored her uncle to consent.

'I am sure our mother cannot be the better for our being thus mewed up,'
she cried, 'and I'll rise at prime, and tell my beads for her.'

She looked so pretty and imploring that the old man's heart was melted,
all