Evening star., 1908-01-12
PART II.
THE LADY URSULA.
CHAPTER K.
A Bevy Of Fair Maidens.

| Never in all her life had her grace OF
Lincoln experienced anything so awful.
Her very Golf, usually a pattern of pro-
priety, looked awry and scarcely sober on
her dear old head, whilst her round
chubby face, beautiful forest of tangled
wrinkles, expressed the most dire distress
coupled with hopeless. pathetic bewilder-
| ment.
"Well?" she repeated over and over
again. in breathless eagerness.
She seemed scarce to notice the pretty
picture before her; two young girls stand
| ing with arms linked round one another
waists, eyes aglow with excitement and
| cheeks made rosy with the palpitating in
tensity of the narrative
| Yet was not Her Grace justly proud OF
the flock of fair maids committed to her
charge? What more charming than these
two specimens Of austere Queen Mary
dainty maids of honor with their slim
| figures in the stiff corsets and unwieldly
farthingales, their unruly curls held in
becomingly by delicate lace colts. and the
somber paneling of the room throwing UP
| in harmonious contrast the vivid color
| ing of robes and kerchiefs, of lace and of
| complexion?
| But today the Duchess of Lincoln had
no eye for the charming sight. Leaning
well forward in her high, straight backed
chair, her fat, beringed fingers were
| beating a veritable DEVILS tattoo against
| its brocaded arms.
"Alicia. girl, why don't you go on"
she added impatiently la! 1 VOW the
| wenchll make me die of choler."
/ Alicia, in the eagerness of telling ner
thrilling story. had somewhat lost her
breath. But now she made a vigorous ef-
| fort to resume.
WELL" she said "your Grace must re-
member the night was very dark: Bar
| bara and 1 were strolling by the low wall,
when suddenly the clouds parted, the river
was flooded with light. and. just below US,
not ten PAGES away, we saw"
| But here she broke off suddenly. A
look of genuine distress crossed her
piquant little face; she looked ind uiringly
Lat her companion, then at the duchess.
while her merry eyes began to fill with
tears.
"Ohi 1 scarce like to repeat It," she
said hesitatingly at last ''for truly l love
her So"
But her grace was in no mood to pan
der to girIish sentimentality just now
Her small. round eyes. usually alive with
good nature and kindness. were looking
positively stern.
go on child" she demanded; cannot
you see that l am verify sitting on pins
Was twas it the Lady Ursula you
SAW"
may, madam" protested Alicia feeb-
ly. "'twas Barbara saw her-I do not
believe that it was Ursula"
"She was wrapped in a dark cloak from
head to foot" here interposed the other
young maid: when we called, she looked
UP. but seeing us. she Immediately fed
along the bank"
"Then the clouds obscured the moon
again, and we saw nothing more" re-
sumed Alicia; Barbara may have been
mistaken"
Barbara nodded. quite longing to con-
vince herself that she had indeed been
mistaken. The two girls were getting
more and more confused. Clearly they
had no wish to get their absent friend
into trouble. and having been LED into
relating their experiences of the night
before. they tardiy realized that they
Ursula's unsuspecting head
With all her good nature. the duchess
was a stern disciplinarian, taking herself
and her duties very seriously. When the
queen entrusted her with the formation
of her own immediate feminine encourage,
she also expressed a desire that her maids
of honor ana ladies-in-waiting should
be models of decorum and veritable pat
terms of all the virtues.
The court, which had been little else
than a name in the old and gloomy palace
of Richmond and the simple household at
Esher. had seen some of its old glories
revived since Mary's proclamation as sole
and. royal liege lady, queen sovereign of
England.
Before and since the coronation, Hamp-
ton Court had once more become alive
with merriment and laughter. with tennis
and bowling games, jousts. suppers and