about twenty inches wide and of a brownish cream-color. Next she selected
some skeins of dyed linen thread from a heap of all the colors of the
rainbow, mementoes of the work her busy fingers had done during many
years. In a little enameled box, very carefully wrapped in soft wool to
keep them from rusting, were a few needles. Out of a wrapping of cotton
paper came a thin stick of charcoal rather like a crayon--charred hard
wood that could be used for drawing.

"Now," said the lady smiling at the eager little face, "what shall we
choose for the subject of your tapestry, and what is to be its use? Will
you have it for a cushion, or a panel of a screen, or something else?"

"I think--a set of panels," said Eleanor slowly. "It will take a long
time, but I should like to do exactly like you."

Lady Philippa gave a little, amused, affectionate laugh that ended in a
sigh. "But, my dear child, you don't think of copying these?"

"N-o. But when I grow up I want my room to look like yours. I want the
tapestry to have a story. Mother, do you think I could work the story of
Saint George and the dragon? I like that best of all."

Eleanor drank in all the tales told her so delightedly that her mother had
never known she liked one much more than another. "But," she said smiling,
"Saint George was an English saint. He was born in Coventry."

"That's why he is my favorite," Eleanor explained. "You know father is
English. And Saint George had so many adventures. I think he would be very
interesting to do."