of her youth, as Jack had truly foretold, been presented to their royal majesties in company with many other beautiful maidens, and where the king had been pleased to pay gracious compliments to the beauty of the Welsh damsels, even inquiring whether another so fair a maid-in-waiting might not be found for his queen in the beautiful vale of Gwynnon by much searching! And how he had spoken with much affection, in her hearing, of the earl's most noble father, saying that he had ever been his own royal father's most faithful friend, so that she had felt herself even more highly honoured than before, in being chosen for the service of so greatly favoured a family. And next, after another week or so had elapsed, there came another letter, written from the noble castle of Ludlow, whither, at the invitation of the Earl of Bridgewater, who was at that time President of Wales, the earl and his lady had been persuaded to repair, much to her own delight and joy, in order to be present at the first representation of the wonderful mask of "Comus," lately writ by Master John Milton of rising fame and repute, whom Primrose had already been privileged to meet at a banquet ere her friends had left town. Much she wrote of this beautiful play, and of the cleverness with which the earl's children took their several parts in its representation, earning for themselves much praise thereby from the writer, whom she described as a grave and somewhat austere-looking person, but of a most beautiful countenance, and so wondrously learned in his conversation that all were wont to listen to him still-bound. "Though," she added, in a burst of loyalty and enthusiasm for those gracious personages whom she had so recently seen face to face and heartily loved, "Master Milton does not wholly please me, in spite of my pleasure in his beautiful play, and the admiration I must needs give to his noble face and marvellous talents, for he has but little love for the king and queen, and were he in our little Gwynnon Valley I do verily believe he would walk hand in hand with Master Jones, our grievous enemy, and shake his learned head sadly over our beloved little church on the hillside! Yet it would seem a shame to cherish even this grievance against him, for so skilled is he in verse-making that my Lord Bridgewater prophesies great things for him in the future, saying that if he mistake not his name will presently vie with that of the great Master Shakespeare in renown." And having further described at length the beauties of the castle and of the neighbourhood, this second letter concluded with loving words which assured Jack's hungry heart that in the midst of her new pleasures and delights he was by no means yet forgotten for a moment by his foster-child.