aid Susan, to whom this was a
serious matter. "Yet doth it not behove us to endeavour to find out
her parentage?"

"I tell you I proved to myself that he knew nothing, and all that we
have to do is to hinder him from making mischief out of that little,"
returned Richard impatiently.

The honest captain could scarcely have told the cause of his distrust
or of his secrecy, but he had a general feeling that to let an
intriguer like Cuthbert Langston rake up any tale that could be
connected with the party of the captive queen, could only lead to
danger and trouble.

CHAPTER IV.

THE OAK AND THE OAKEN HALL.

The oaks of Sheffield Park were one of the greatest glories of the
place. Giants of the forest stretched their huge arms over the turf,
kept smooth and velvety by the creatures, wild and tame, that browsed
on it, and made their covert in the deep glades of fern and copse wood
that formed the background.

There were not a few whose huge trunks, of such girth that two men
together could not encompass them with outstretched arms, rose to a
height of more than sixty feet before throwing out a horizontal branch,
and these branches, almost trees in themselves, spread forty-eight feet
on each side of the bole, lifting a mountain of rich verdure above
them, and casting a delicious shade upon the ground beneath them.
Beneath one of these noble trees, some years after the arrival of the
hapless Mary Stuart, a party of children were playing, much to the
amusement of an audience of which they were utterly unaware, namely, of
sundry members of a deer-hunting party; a lady and gentleman who,
having become separated from the rest, were standing in the deep
bracken, which rose nearly as high as their heads, and were further
sheltered by a rock, looking and listening.

"Now then, Cis, bravely done! Show how she treats her ladies--"

"Who will be her lady? Thou must, Humfrey!"

"No, no, I'll never be a lady," said Humfrey gruffly.

"Thou then, Diccon."

"No, no," and the little fellow shrank back, "thou wilt hurt me, Cis."

"Come then, do thou, Tony! I'll not strike too hard!"

"As if a wench could strike too hard."

"He might have turned that more chivalrously," whispered the lady to
her companion. "What are they about to represent? Mort de ma vie, the
profane little imps! I, believe it is my sacred cousin, the Majesty of
England herself! Truly the little maid hath a bearing that might serve
a queen, t