CHAPTER XVII

HOWEVER, this concession was all that could be expected for the present. It was more liberal, indeed, as Corisande confided to her new friends, than she had hoped for, until the last moment.

Vanda was overjoyed at the idea of having a new friend more nearly of her own age, and declared that nothing was now wanting to ensure her perfect happiness. Australian friends would be forthcoming to complete the house-party. If the weather was reasonable, the Hexham Hall gathering would be one of the glories of the summer. Why, indeed, should it not be a triumphant success?

The day-the great day-was fine. Such a glowing morn, tempered, as the sun-dial advanced towards mid-day, with the deliciously modified shade of groves which in olden days had seen the 'green gloom' of their depths invaded by the gleam of knightly armour. The Banneret girls, who had become accustomed to the sumptuous leafage of the English woodlands, were not so demonstrative as in their first experience.

But to Corisande, retaining only a dim, half

childish memory, it was a revelation as of a new heaven, a new earth. The immense girth of bole, the enormous spread of branch of the oaks, in the 'King's Chase,' amazed her. There, indeed, the legend ran, had bluff King Hal' in person followed the deer. Here, beneath these leafy shades, had he feasted with nobles, courtiers, and ladies fair. In fancy's ear, with cry of hound and huntsman's hollo, the gay greenwood rang and reechoed. What joyous days were those! she thought. How much more colour and light than in this sad-coloured, prosaic age!

This, in their hours of idleness, the young people were prone to imagine, and, indeed, to assert, in hasty generalisation, untempered by experience. On calmer retrospect they were, however, compelled to admit that, in larger outlook, variety of occupation, and the wondrous advance of scientific discovery, the moderns have immeasurably the best of it. If the age no longer affords such romantic situations as when

The Knight looked down from the Paynim Tower,
As a Christian Host, in its pride and power,
Through the pass beneath him wound,

we must admit that the captive with his 'heavy chain' despaired of release by those whom he loved with a brother's heart, those in whose wars he had borne a part, who had left him there to die.'

Sound again, clarion! clarion, pour thy blast!
Sound! for the captive's dream of hope is past.

'Can imagination depict a situation more hopeless, more deplorable?' remarked Reggie, who now, reading for his double first,' thought himself constrained to take the rational side of the argument.

I think Sterne's prisoner is a close parallel,' argued Eric. 'What a picture it is!'

But perhaps he had never been a knight,' suggested Vanda, so he would not have had a past of gallant strife, with helm and charger and nodding plume, to look back upon; perhaps not even a victory in the lists, like Wilfred of Ivanhoe, with his opponent rolling in the sand, and his ladye-love, amid the beauty and fashion (smart set of the period) looking on. Would that have comforted him in his dungeon, or otherwise, do you think?

'Rather hard to say. Who is the true heroine of that delightful novel Ivanhoe?-as the lists of Ashby-de-la-Zouche are referred to.'

'Rebecca, of course! Thackeray, in his inimitable ending of the novel, absolutely destroys Rowena, who settled down as a worthy mate for the doltish Athelstane.'

'Now, look here, Reggie!' said Eric impressively; if once we get fairly started on Sir Walter, we shall never get to the garden party, or the great Hexham Hall revels, or, indeed, anywhere else in the kingdom of fact and practical politics. Hadn't we all better "split and squander," as they used to do in the old Border days, when they had managed some particularly lawless deed of murder and rapine? We shall have my mother

reading the Riot Act (which she can do on occasions, mild as she looks). I wouldn't presume to dictate to Miss Aylmer, as an honoured guest, entitled to respectful deference, but would merely suggest that an adjournment to the scene of action, as volunteers for the duties of preparation, would be safer for her—indeed, for all of us.'

'Come with me, Corie,' said Vanda. Hermie and I will protect you; and, indeed, there is some sense in what Eric says-rarely as it happens to be the case.'

They were just in time to be detailed for active service. Of course the caterer-general had organised his forces, and was directing the movements of his officers, not to mention the rank and file, of whom there appeared to be hundreds. Still, it was necessary to have aides-de-camp and attachés between the controlling powers and the heads of departments, and for this important service the young people-eager, intelligent, and alert answered admirably. To be sure, they had additional assistance, which could hardly be overestimated. This contingent had arrived by train while they had been discussing literary questions, and had at once been requisitioned by Mrs. Banneret. Captain the Honourable Jack Aylmer, of the Guards, the eldest son, heir to the title and lordship of Hexham, if but to little else, was a steady, hard-working young officer, devoted to his profession, who had been wounded in South Africa, and had gained the proud privilege of having had the D.S.O. decoration attached to his uniform by His Majesty King Edward in person,

the while Lord Roberts looked on approvingly. The sailor brother, Lieutenant the Honourable Falkland Aylmer, whose ship the Palmyra had happened to get over from Malta about that time, dashed into action at once, and proved himself to be the right man in the right place. Who does not know how the 'handy man' can multiply his inventive talents, and communicate his mesmeric quality at pinch of need? So when, on that wondrous morning, the mid-summer sun, all goldenly defiant of meadow mists and woodland shadows, irradiated the scene, Hermione, Vanda, and their young friends were satisfied, even exultant, though occasionally tremulous lest anything important had been overlooked.

But as the programme had been considered and debated, submitted to the host and hostess over and over again, there was little risk of such mischance occurring.

Twelve o'clock had been mentioned as the hour when the sports would begin, but long before mid-day all entrances to the park were crowded with a continuous stream of country people. As they arrived, they were taken in charge by the land steward and persons in authority under him, who disposed them in groups, so that they should diverge to different localities in the park and chase. There, under the shade of immemorial elms and oaks, might they rest and recreate after the long walk which, no doubt, many of them had taken.

Every kind of game, with due forethought, had been arranged for, and prizes made ready for