, and leaning on her daughter's arm, proceeded to
explore her new abode. Like her apartment at the Lodge, it was at the
top of the house, a fashion not uncommon when it was desirable to make
the lower regions defensible; but, whereas she had always hitherto been
placed in the castles of the highest nobility, she was now in that of a
country knight of no great wealth or refinement, and, moreover, taken
by surprise.

So the plenishing was of the simplest. The walls were covered with
tapestry so faded that the pattern could hardly be detected. The
hearth yawned dark and dull, and by it stood one chair with a
moth-eaten cushion. A heavy oaken table and two forms were in the
middle of the room, and there was the dreary, fusty smell of want of
habitation. The Queen, whose instincts for fresh air were always a
distress to her ladies, sprang to the mullioned window, but the heavy
lattice defied all her efforts.

"Let us see the rest of our dominions," she said, turning to a door,
which led to a still more gloomy bedroom, where the only articles of
furniture were a great carved bed, with curtains of some undefined dark
colour, and an oaken chest. The window was a mere slit, and even more
impracticable than that of the outer room. However, this did not seem
to horrify Mary so much as it did her daughter. "They cannot mean to
keep us here long," she said; "perhaps only for the day, while they
make their search--their unsuccessful search--thanks to--we know whom,
little one."

"I hope so! How could we sleep there?" said Cicely, looking with a
shudder at the bed.

"Tush! I have seen worse in Scotland, mignonne, ay and when I was
welcomed as liege lady, not as a captive. I have slept in a box like a
coffin with one side open, and I have likewise slept on a plaidie on
the braw purple blossoms of freshly pulled heather! Nay, the very
thought makes this chamber doubly mouldy and stifling! Let the old
knight beware. If he open not his window I shall break it! Soft. Here
he comes."

Sir Walter Ashton appeared, louting low, looking half-dogged,
half-sheepish, and escorting two heavy-footed, blue-coated serving-men,
who proceeded to lay the cloth, which at least had the merit of being
perfectly clean and white. Two more brought in covered silver dishes,
one of which contained a Yorkshire pudding, the other a piece of
roast-beef, apparently calculated to satisfy five hungry men. A flagon
of sack, a tankard of ale, a d