it? He was new bugbear recently set up, and more haunting than even
a gunpowder treason in the cellars! What did he do with the seals?
Did he seal up mischievous heiresses in closets, as she had seen a
door fastened by two seals and a bit of string? Perhaps the Court of
Chancery was full of such prisons! And was the woolsack to smother
them with, like the princes in the Tower?

It must be owned that it was only when half asleep at night that Kate
was so absurd. By day she knew very well that the Lord Chancellor
was only a great lawyer; but she also knew that whenever there was
any puzzle or difficulty about her or her affairs, she always heard
something mysteriously said about applying to the Lord Chancellor,
till she began to really suspect that it was by his commands that
Aunt Barbara was so stern with her; and that if he knew of her fall
into the pond, something terrible would come of it. Perhaps that was
why the De la Poers kept her name so secret!

She trembled as she thought of it; and here was another added to her
many terrors. Poor little girl! If she had rightly feared and loved
One, she would have had no room for the many alarms that kept her
heart fluttering!



CHAPTER IX.



It may be doubted whether Countess Kate ever did in her childhood
discover what her Aunt Barbara meant by the natural consequences of