The glad light died out of Celia's eyes, and her voice sank to a low, saddened tone. "No, Mother; she has taken the veil at Chaillot. I am in black for Philip--my brother Philip--who died at Denain." "Are you then come to us for good, my dear?" asked Madam Passmore, tenderly. "For good, Mother, if you will have me, and I think you will. Only that I have promised to see my step-mother again, but my visit to her cannot last above a day, and will not be for some time to come." "Have thee, my dear child!" murmured Madam Passmore, as if the reverse were the most preposterous notion of which she had ever heard. "Do widows make nuns of themselves?" asked Charley. "I thought they were always girls, and that they walled them up alive when they had done with them!" "And your woman, my dear?" "I want to plead with you for her, Mother. She has been the best friend I have had--except Philip: and she is but lent to me for a time. She was my brother Edward's nurse, and when he wants her again he will come and fetch her. I thought you not mind my bringing her with me." "What should I mind, my dear? If you have found her a true and faithful waiting-woman, and love her, let her by all means abide with you and serve you. Such are not to be picked up everywhere." "My dear," asked the Squire, uneasily, "I hope they have not made a Tory of you, Celia?" "I don't know, really, Father," was the answer. "I scarce think there is much difference between Whigs and Tories. They all seem to me devoid of honesty." The Squire looked horror-struck. "Nobody has made a Papist of me, if that be any consolation to you. I return as true a Protestant as I went." "Is this woman a Tory?" gasped the Squire. "Patient? No, Father," replied Celia, smiling, "she is a little on the other side of you. She calls Oliver Cromwell 'His Highness the Lord Protector,' and won't allow that King Charles was a martyr." "Celia, child, thou hast been in ill company!" solemnly pronounced the Squire. "I was afraid you would think so. But I thought I was bound to obey my step-mother in all things not wrong"-- "Surely, child, surely!" assented Madam Passmore. "Therefore, Father--I hope you will forgive me, but I cannot in honesty keep it from you--I did not refuse her wish that I should be presented to Queen Mary." The Squire gasped for breath. "Presented!" was the only word he could utter. "I was afraid that it would vex you, when you came to know, dear Father," said Celia, very gently; "but you see, I was placed in such a position that I could not help vexing either you or my step-mother; and I thought that perchance I ought to obey that one in whose charge I was at the time. I did not like to go, I assure you; but I wished to do right. Do you think I did wrong, Father?"