mounted and ridden off he called two servitors, and bade one carry the
luggage upstairs, and the other conduct the men to the stables he had
taken for the horses.

"After you have seen to their comfort," he said to Robert Picard, "you
will return hither; you will find a meal prepared for you, and will be
bestowed together in a chamber upstairs."

In the meantime his wife had ushered Dame Margaret into a very handsomely
furnished apartment. "This is at your entire service, Lady Margaret," she
said. "The bedroom behind it is for yourself, the one next to it for your
daughter, unless you would prefer that she should sleep with you."

"I thank you. I was telling your husband that I should prefer that; and my
son and esquire can therefore occupy the second room. But I fear greatly
that I am disturbing yourself and your husband."

"No, indeed; our sitting-room and bedroom are on the other side of the
landing. These are our regular guest-chambers, and your being here will
make no change whatever in our arrangements. I only regret that the
apartments are not larger."

"Do not apologize, I beg of you, madam. I can assure you that the room is
far handsomer than that to which I have been accustomed. You citizens of
Paris are far in advance of us in your ideas of comfort and luxury, and
the apartments both at Villeroy and in my English home cannot compare with
these, except in point of size. I never dreamt that my prison would be so
comfortable."

"Say not prison, I pray you, lady. I heard, indeed, that your visit to the