o doubt if _Helen_ were pleased or no. Last came
_Walter_, which bare in his hand a right pretty box of walnut-wood,
lined of red taffeta, and all manner of cunning divisions therein.
Saith he--

"_Helen_, dear heart, I would fain have had a better gift to offer thee,
but being in the conditions I am, I thought it not right for me to spend
one penny even on a gift. Howbeit, I have not spared labour nor
thought, and I trust thou wilt accept mine offering, valueless though it
be, for in very deed it cometh with no lesser love than the rest."

"Why, _Wat_, dear heart!" crieth _Nell_, her cheeks all flushing, "dost
think that which cost money, should be to me so much as half the value
of thine handiwork, that had cost thee thought and toil! Nay, verily!
thou couldst have given me nought, hadst thou spent forty pound, that
should have been more pleasant unto me. Trust me, thy box shall be one
of my best treasures so long as I do live, and I give thee hearty thanks
therefor."

_Walter_ looked right pleased, and saith he, "Well, in very deed I
feared thou shouldst count it worth nought, for even the piece of
taffeta to line the same I asked of _Mother_."

"Nay, verily, not so!" saith she, and kissed him.

To say _Wat_ were last, howbeit, I writ not well, for I forgat
_Mynheer_, and Cousin _Bess_, the which I should not.

Cousin _Bess_ marcheth up to _Nell_ with--"Well, my maid, thou hast this
morrow many goodlier gifts than mine, yet not one more useful. 'Tis
plain and solid, like me." And forth she holdeth a parcel which, being
oped, did disclose a right warm thick hood of black serge, lined with
flannel and dowlas, mighty comfortable-looking. _Mynheer_ cometh up
with a courtesy and a scrape that should have beseemed a noble of the
realm, and saith he--

"Mistress _Helena Van Louvaine_--for that is your true name, as I am
assured of certainty--I, a _Dutchman_, have the great honour and
pleasure to offer unto you, a _Dutch_ vrouw, a most precious relic of
your country, being a stool for your feet, made of willow-wood that
groweth by the great dyke which keepeth off from _Holland_ the waters of
the sea. 'Tis true, you be of the _Nether-Land_, and this cometh of the
_Hollow-Land_--for such do the names mean. Howbeit, do me the favour,
_Domina mea_, to accept this token at the hands of your obeissant
_paedagogus_, that should have had much pleasure in learning you the
_Latin_ tongue, had it been the pleasure of y