his adventures, and of his hopes and aspirations.

Perhaps the Earl's younger brother--who was himself somewhat a soldier
of fortune, having fought in Spain, France, and Germany--felt a certain
kinship in spirit with the adventurous youngster who had his unfriended
way to make in the world. However that might have been, Lord George was
very kind and friendly to the lad, and the willing service that Myles
rendered him reconciled him not a little to the Earl's obvious neglect.

Besides these of the more immediate family of the Earl were a number
of knights, ladies, and gentlemen, some of them cadets, some of them
retainers, of the house of Beaumont, for the princely nobles of those
days lived in state little less royal than royalty itself.

Most of the knights and gentlemen Myles soon came to know by sight,
meeting them in Lord George's apartments in the south wing of the great
house, and some of them, following the lead of Lord George, singled him
out for friendly notice, giving him a nod or a word in passing.


Every season has its pleasures for boys, and the constant change that
they bring is one of the greatest delights of boyhood's days.

All of us, as we grow older, have in our memory pictures of by-gone
times that are somehow more than usually vivid, the colors of some not
blurring by time as others do. One of which, in remembering, always
filled Myles's heart in after-years with an indefinable pleasure, was
the recollection of standing with others of his fellow squires in the
crisp brown autumn grass of the paddock, and shooting with the long-bow
at wildfowl, which, when the east wind was straining, flew low overhead