illustration of old manners in England. We shall follow the account of
the circumstance, given in a manuscript in the British Museum.

Sir Michel Poole, second Earl of Suffolk, had several sons and
daughters. First was Mighell, son and heir; then William, second son;
and afterwards ten additional olive branches, of diverse names and
both sexes--all of whom, however, died, and went down unmarried to the
cold tomb. Some fell off like nipped blossoms in their infancy;
convents and wars absorbed the rest, till only the eldest two were
left of all that numerous family to perpetuate the name of Poole, and
raise the fortunes of the race. In due course of time, Sir Mighell
married Elizabeth, daughter of the right noble knight, Thomas Duke of
Norfolk; and these together had two children, Jane and Katharine, but,
alas! no son. Years passed on, and the hope of an heir was at an end;
but before that hope was quite laid aside, the tragedy of the house
began.

Jane, as yet heiress and darling, a round, bright, wilful cherub,
beautiful and loving, but mighty in her passionate force, and
indomitable in her infant will, beyond all power of control--the one
most cared for, and on whom was anchored such a rich argosy of hopes
and first fond love--was one day given into the safe keeping of Maud,
a young serving-girl, a rough, untutored peasant-girl, who was one of
the underwomen to the bower-maidens. The king was coming to the castle
that night, and every female finger that could work was employed on
the last stitches of a dainty tapestry-bed, which was to receive His
Majesty as became his lordly dignity. Even the mother's care must give
way to the housewife's duty; even love must yield to loyalty.

Left alone in an upper apartment with her young charge, Maud became