hearts in the world; and I am certain he is hungry enough too."

Lord William was going to reply, when he was interrupted by the yelping of a dog behind him. The mastiff belonging to the castle had, out of tyranny, hunger it could not be, snatched a bone from a cur belonging to one of the workmen, whose apparent ribs eloquently told the hungry state of his stomach, and who was now bewailing his loss.

Hubert came running up to Edward, "I beg your pardon, Sir, for what I said," he cried; "pray will you give me the meat and bread now?"

The hand in which Edward had at first held it out to the lad, was still extended with it; and as he did not withdraw it on Hubert's request, the lad took it into his. "Thank you, gratefully, Sir," he cried, and running up to the howling cur, laid it down before him.

"What is that for?" asked Lord Wil

liam.

"To

"To reward him, my Lord," said the lad, because he was run down for being poor.

"He has one of the best hearts in the world !" exclaimed Edward, "and I wish Lord William would let me ask him to dine at the castle."

Lord William smiled at the earnestness with which Edward advanced his petition; and with a caution to the lad not to speak his thoughts again with the freedom he had just been guilty of, he gave him his' permission to dine with the servants at the castle that day.

From this time, there was a something, inexplicable almost to himself, unless it could be accounted for by that reverence which a mind of discernment naturally feels for a noble and honest heart, which led Edward to throw himself perpetually in the way of Hubert; and to him, and him alone, the lad relaxed in that roughness of temper, which he maintained towards every one else, and which proceeded

proceeded from his sense of Edward's benevolent feelings towards him, and from gratitude for the many favours which he received at his hands.

In the course of about three years, the castle was in a state of such forwardness, that Lord William began to raise the men, who were to render that strength a terror to the enemy.

Edward was now on the point of completing his seventeenth year, and the Baron realized the promise which he had made to him, by giving him the command of a small body of men, into which number the surly Hubert, for by this appellation he was generally known, volunta rily enlisted.

At the close of another twelvemonth, Lord William seeing his plans of defence drawing towards a state of perfectness, and all the levies of men which he had demanded, raised, judged the present an expedient time for going to London, and basking for a while in that sunshine of favour,

favour, which the Queen would doubtless warm him with, in return for his alert execution of her commands, and which would render him the envy of the court. Another motive also impelled him to this journey; his Rosaliud, the god-daughter of her Queen, had never yet been introduced to the metropolis: Elizabeth had never seen her, since she had held her an infant in her arms; her charms were now beginning to expand into the most lovely bloom of perfection; and he hesitated not to conclude, that she would be no sooner seen, than some exalted alliance would offer itself to her acceptance, as the possession of her hand would be deemed a never failing passport to the favour of the Queen.

To Lady de Mowbray he accordingly imparted his intention of setting out, as soon as the necessary preparations could be made for their journey: she had never visited the court since she had become a wife, and from causes confined to her own breast,

AN

breast, she felt a reluctance ever to return to it; but the will of her husband was absolute; and she also considered it becoming that Rosalind should not be withheld from a visit to the Queen, who had so frequently asked to see her: she therefore acquiesced in his plan.

To Rosalind, the sensation of leaving home was a new one, and she knew not whether it inspired pleasure or pain. There was something too gratifying to the heart of youth, in the idea of being received at court as the child of her sovereign, not to inspire her with some degree of pleasure; but it was counterbalanced by the wish that she had a brother to share her joy; and she wished that Edward were that brother; but he was to stay at home, exposed to attacks from the enemy; he might fall before she should return, and she might even have no nominal brother to relate her adventures to. These were feelings which she could not subdue, and with a blush, she whispered them in her mother's