was not in all Whitehall beauty to compare with hers. And when her full
red lips parted in a tearful smile, showing a gleam of ivory between
their curving lines, I knew that if our king were an unmarried man, she
could be our queen, but barring that high estate, I felt sure that a
score of titles and great fortunes would lie at her feet before she had
been a month in Whitehall. That is, I knew all this would happen if she
kept her head. The king himself would be her greatest danger, for in a
way, he was handsome of person when he kept his mouth closed, and even a
little beauty in a king, like a candlelight in a distant window, shines
with magnified radiance.

I went to bed that night having great faith in my cousin's strength and
discretion, but my confidence was to receive a shock the next day.




CHAPTER II

A MAIDEN ST. GEORGE


After breakfast the following morning, while Sir Richard and I were
sipping our morning draught in the dingy little library, he brought up
the subject of the night before.

"As you justly observed, Baron Ned," my uncle began, restraining his
emotion as best he could, "sooner or later my daughters will have to face
the world alone. I am of no help to them now, and perhaps shall be no
loss when I am gone, but it is like taking the heart out of me to send my