would be so over-much shocked at your levity, that he would be struck dumb, and but roll the whites of his eyes in silence, thus----" "Fie, Primrose!" said her friend with a laugh, "so to mock the good man! Ah, it is he of whom dear Master Rhys told me, who upbraids you for study of the _Morte d' Arthur_ and the Faery Queene, and the good old _Tales_ of Master Chaucer. Speaking of King Arthur, do you know that my Sir Galahad, who, as I told you, is of Welsh birth on his mother's side, is descended from none other than Ap Gryffyth himself, our last luckless king, of whose lost crown he is the rightful heir, and whose head was hung up on the gates of Carnarvon by our hated conqueror, the first Edward of England? I tell you I do so regard the youth, that I would fain go a-fighting to regain his crown and kingdom for him, an he had left in his recreant bosom but one spark of loyalty to his dead relative wherewith to encourage me! You and I would lead a rebellion, Primrose, and Caer Caradoc should be stormed by King Charles's armies, and we would smuggle away the young Ap Gryffyth through the secret passage. You should save him, and he would marry you out of gratitude, and make you Queen of Wales! There is a sweet romance for you! The only drawback is that the youth is a miscreant wretch, having but a romantic love for his royal ancestor, and a poetic pity for his hapless fate, while from his English father he has imbibed so strong a spirit of loyalty to the English nation and the House of Stuart, that he will die for King Charles sooner than aid us in our noble scheme! Well, never mind. My husband is ever telling me that I am full to the brim of misdirected energy, but better that, say I, than none at all!" "Since your ladyship is so keen on war and bloodshed," said Primrose, "your courage must surely not fail at the prospect of entering the secret passage! Have you forgot Sir Ivor's promise? And to-morrow is my last day in your company." "I would fight bravely in open daylight," said Lady Rosamond valiantly, "yet my proud spirit quails in the dark like that of any frightened child! Man, I tell you, child, and still less woman, was not made to crawl on all-fours for miles, by the light of a solitary candle, which, on the verge of the bottomless well is sure to be extinguished by some satyr's breath below, precipitating us to unknown depths of darkness! Such places are relics of barbarous times, when efts and pixies dwelt in the land. Yet sooner than be outdone by a girl like you, I will e'en adventure myself into the passage! Long ago I would have done so, save that in me the curiosity of my sex is ever so evenly balanced with sloth and laziness that I am willing enough to forego knowledge of that which gives me trouble. So it was with me as a child, whence my present ignorance on divers subjects, fragments of which were but driven in upon the surface of the brain with cuff and blow. Ah well! I will