group of ancient plate; ewers and flagons and tall salt-cellars, a foot
high and richly chiselled; sometimes a state bed shadowed with a huge
pomp of stiff brocade and borne by silver poles.

Vauxe stood in a large park, studded with stately trees; here and there
an avenue of Spanish chestnuts or a grove of oaks; sometimes a gorsy
dell, and sometimes a so great spread of antlered fern, taller than the
tallest man.

It was only twenty miles from town, and Lord St. Jerome drove Lothair
down; the last ten miles through a pretty land, which, at the right
season, would have been bright with orchards, oak-woods, and
hop-gardens. Lord St. Jerome loved horses, and was an eminent whip. He
had driven four-in-hand when a boy, and he went on driving four-in-hand;
not because it was the fashion, but because he loved it. Toward the
close of Lent, Lady St. Jerome and Clare Arundel had been at a convent
in retreat, but they always passed Holy Week at home, and they were to
welcome Lord St. Jerome again at Vauxe.

The day was bright, the mode of movement exhilarating, all the
anticipated incidents delightful, and Lothair felt the happiness of
health and youth.

"There is Vauxe," said Lord St. Jerome, in a tone of proud humility, as
a turn in the road first displayed the stately pile.

"How beautiful!" said Lothair. "Ah! our ancestors understood the
country."

"I used to think when I was a boy," said Lord St. Jerome, "that I lived