ood, the sweetness of her
disposition and manners began to be acknowledged by those, who had
seen without astonishment her extraordinary beauty; and many persons
of distinction, who would hold no kind of fellowship with the Lord
Somerset, sought the acquaintance of his innocent daughter for her
own sake.

The most beloved friend of the Lady Anne was the Lady Ellinor G----,
the eldest daughter of the Earl of G----: and with her, Lady Anne
often passed several months in the year. A large party of young ladies
were assembled at G---- Castle; and it happened that a continual
rain had confined the fair companions within doors the whole summer
afternoon. They sat together over their embroidery and various kinds
of needlework, telling old tales of fearful interest--the strange
mishaps of benighted travellers--stories of witchcraft, and of
mysterious murder.

The conversation turned at last to the legends belonging to a certain
family; and one circumstance was mentioned so nearly resembling, in
many particulars, the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, that the Lady
Ellinor, scarcely doubting that some slight suspicion of her parents'
crimes had reached the ears of the Lady Anne, determined to change
the subject at once. She proposed to her fair friends that they
should ramble together through the apartments of the castle; and she
called for the old housekeeper, who had lived in the family from her
childhood, to go along with them, and asked her to describe to them
the person and manners of Queen Elizabeth, when she had visited at the
castle, and slept in the state apartment; always since called, The
Queen's Bedchamber.

Led by their talkative guide, the careless, laughing party wandered
from one chamber to another, listening to her anecdotes, and the
descriptions she gave of persons and things in former days. She had
known many of the originals of the stately portraits in the picture
gallery; and she could tell the names, and the exploits of those
warriors in the family, whose coats of mail and glittering weapons
adorned the armoury. "And now," said the Lady Ellinor, "what else is
there to be seen? Not that I mean to trouble you any longer with our
questions, good Margaret, but give me this key, this key so seldom
used," pointing to a large, strangely shaped key, that hung among a
bunch at the old housekeeper's side. "There!" she added, disengaging
it herself from the ring, "I have taken it, and will return it very
safely. I as