made quite a grand procession as they pranced and caracoled out of Woolwich on their way to Plumstead Marshes, where the trial was to take place. When they arrived at the appointed spot, Colonel Strong was in such a state of excitement and fidget that he could not keep still a moment. At length the Secretary for War (who secretly hoped the trial would be a failure) said, in a low voice, “I think, your Royal Highness, we had perhaps better begin,” and then somebody said “Fire.” At that moment Colonel Strong popped up his head just in front of the muzzle of the gun, and the explosion blew it into a thousand pieces. The Field-Marshal Commanding in Chief was naturally distressed at this untoward circumstance, and, mentioning the matter to the Queen, Her Majesty, with her usual kindness, was graciously pleased to offer apartments in Hampton Court Palace to the late Colonel’s only sister. Miss Strong gratefully accepted the offer, and that the more so since the Government, which forthwith adopted her brother’s invention, made no sort of compensation for it whatsoever. Miss Strong was a plain, excellent, kind-hearted woman, who lived for the good of others, and by self-denial made her limited income do wonders for the benefit of her fellow-creatures. She was gratefully known as “Sister Sarah,” and whether it was a decayed lady of rank in the palace, or a private soldier in the adjoining barracks, who was sick and suffering, she was always ready to act as a kind and efficient nurse. CHAPTER III. HOLMCASTLE MANOR. SPITE of the natural desire of the reader to plump at once into the _crême de la crême_ of good society, and to accompany Miss Strong and her _protégée_ into the company of a live Duchess (Dowager), I feel it necessary, for the purposes of this narrative, to make him or her aware, first and foremost, whence Miss Manwaring came, who she was, what was her family, what her belongings and previous history, and to explain why it was that she was the recipient of royal favour, and tenant for life, if so she willed it, of one of the very best sets of apartments in the noble old Royal Palace of Hampton Court.