A Little Queen of Hearts - An International Story

at home there. The servants were the same that had been with them at the time of their mother's death, and had been as faithful as they knew how to be, even whe

e. Of course there are some good fellows of whom this is not true at all, and even those of whom it is, as a rule, in time get over it; but meanwhile the mothers grow quite worn out sometimes, and the mischief fares on past mending. So much for our little protest against a tendency of college life. The bother of it is, it is not likely in the least to help matters. As for Ted, you can imagine the life he led those servants of his, with four college-men his guests for t

all sat together one evening in the library-that is, with the ex

great mass of crocheting, that would soon be a full-grown afg

n like a bit of heaven and if ever Mrs. Harris felt repaid for anything in her life

ouse?" Harold added. "I suppose you can't exactly understand it, but even the book

ference if you want to know, Harold; it's the countless little touches here and there. You notice now and then, and you'll see that Aunt Lou is forever cha

r mother's neck, as much as to say, "Isn't a mother like mine the darlingest thing?" and then a little fellow, who didn't have any mother, quite unconsciously to

at loss. Resolved that it should never happen again, and annoyed at herself beside, Marie-Celeste moved away to the window on the other side of the room. There was somebody sitting at the window-somebody half asleep in a great arm-chair, and all but purring with contentment, and it was no one else than Donald, if you please. It had all come about so beautifully, that morning that Harold had

aced friend?" Harold had as

ald you heard ma

ald

d Donald Brown. He was brought up in the Foundling Hospita

; and he's been awfu

with a fever; and he hasn't gained a b

ng home,

ere. The steamer, he says, seems most like home to him.

ld, "let's bring h

ho had thought of the selfsame thing he

the matter over. "I think I'd better ask him; bu

h to say, "Do as you like, Harold and as that, you see, was just what Harold had meant to do, there was no trouble at all about it. And this was the

up on the window bench beside his chai

never called Marie-Celeste by any name whatsoever-"Marie-Celeste" s

nt to hear about it no

hen Donald begged her

ory; are you sure you

ittle Englishman though Donald probably was, it had been only since he had actually come to Windsor that he knew anything whatever about it. Coming out in the train from London, the beautiful castle had first flashed u

e cas

incredible. So, you see, there was a vast amount of ignorance to be enlightened,

of the conventional story-teller, "we have been through the castle three times, so I really know a great deal about it,

0

looks from the outside-the beautiful gray stone walls

of such an eager desire to acquire information as Marie-

ttle city of itself. There are roadways and sidewalks and street lamps, and a big church right in front of you, and people coming and going, just like a city. And there's a guard at the gate, and th

ould have thought himself that white gloves of any sort w

dow a picture of something from the Bible, and these pictures are made of different sorts of marble, somehow, and there's a great deal of gold in them, that makes them more beautiful still. But, best of all, because I lo

y mueh interested; "but why do

th an extremely patronizing air, which Donald

e didn't exactly build it, either. There was a king built it long ago for his tomb, and it has quite a history, I believe; but it was the Queen who mad

Albert bu

oud of the word) at Frogmore, just beyond the Long Walk, as they

s about 'Pilgrim's Progress;'" but Donald, stopping merely to catch his breath, continued: "The name under it was Beulah Land, and it meant a sort of heaven; and the Long Walk looked to me as though it might be a straight road to Beulah Land." And older people than Donald have thought the selfsame th

and as that was exactly the way he was expected to look, Marie-Celeste complacently continued: "Well, first you go up a flight of steps, and you find yourself in a sort of vestibule; and there's a splendid portrait of the architect there-the man who restored the old parts of the castle and added new parts to it and made it all beautiful as it is now; and from this vestibule you go on and on from one grand room to another. They call them the State Apartments; and they are stately, I can tell you, and some of them have very high-sounding names that I cannot remember. There are wonderful tapestries on the walls-pictures made in a loom somehow-and portraits everywhere of royal people. Then there's a room they call the Guard Room, where they have suits of ancient armor; and there's a

bout Lord Nelson. If you'd ever been to London you'd know something about him yourself, for one of the grandest squares there is called after the great battle he won

r, that she was mistaken: for Donald forthwith launched forth into such a detailed account of Lord Nelson's history, from his voyage as a boy to the North Pole, to his last great, glorious battle, that the patience of that young lady, who was rather more eager at all ti

t opportunity; "and now I'll go on with the castle, shall I?" And Donald,

the Banqueting all, a wonderful, great, big place, and the ceiling is covered with the crests

utterly mystifie

conversation; and over he came to the window, dragging his chair after him. "Thos

ially as was possible, considering it meant she should again relinquish

ou turn here at Windsor, and so I've read up a good deal about them, and it'

ed?'" interrupted Donald, who was not g

came to be called the Order of the Garter was this: That King Edward was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury, when she had the misfortune to lose her garter; and then as he stooped to

ied Marie-Celeste; "that i

so many ways, and they wore elegant clothes, I

hts nowadays?" questione

t's a very high honor, indeed, t

Celeste had an idea that th

hing to make himself greater, the Queen may reward him by permitting him to become a member of the Or

garter business about it n

interesting about the Knights; and I tell you what, some day, when Donald's stronger, we'll go up to the castle and St. George's Chapel, and sort of spend the day with the Knights, looking at everything that belongs to them. But now you know something of what the crests on the ceiling of the Banquet

indeed, about St. George; and was there ever any place lik

you ought not to mind that as much as we older folks, who are expected to know a great deal more than you little people. Why, when we fi

as most ladies;" for Harold was already the devoted champion

," urged Donald, secretly hoping th

d Reception-Room, with a beautiful plate-glass window forming almost all of one end of it, and there's the Waterloo Room, filled with portraits of officers w

ke to have everything so tearing grand," sa

y and homelike, like other people's; but they do look out on a grand garden-the East Terrace they call it. You saw it the same day we drove down the Long Walk. You remember the bushes all trimmed up to a point, and the flower-beds and the statues, and the fountains playing in the centre. And near the Terrace, Donald, is the Photogr

iness would let them, so that it was easy to discover

day," Marie-Celeste wisely concluded; "and you h