"Has the infection seized upon thee too, child? In like manner so do I feel, and so do hundreds of others. Strange what an influence Mary Stuart wields over human hearts! God forfend that thy life should be required, Francis, though many have been lost in her cause. But I would not that thine should be numbered among them. Marry, it saddens me to think on't. No more of this!" "What name shall you call me by, my father, since I am your page?" asked Francis presently. "Thine own. 'Tis a name that thou dost wear because it was my father's, and will serve. But bear thyself in accordance with it and none will deem thee other than thou seemest. And I--I must teach my tongue to say boy instead of child. We have a long ride before us, and I fear that thy strength will fail ere we reach its end." "Fear not, good my father. Thou knowest how used to fatigue I am in hunting and hawking." "I know thy strength, else I should have feared to risk thee for so long a jaunt. And thou hast never been so far from home before." "No; I went with thee once to Lymington where I saw The Solent, and in the distance the Isle of Wight. But never have I been even across Southampton water." "True; I had forgot. Then thou wilt be entertained greatly, for we go through Wilts, Gloucester and Worcester before we reach Stafford." And so conversing on through the woods they passed until at length they came to Bramshaw, a little village standing partly in Hampshire and partly in Wiltshire and forming the forest boundary. Before them swelled the rounded forms of the Wiltshire downs, and from their midst towered the spire of Salisbury with the mound of old Sarum looming darkly behind. "I prithee tell me, father," said Francis, "what is that which I see in yon distance? Methinks it looks like the tower of a church." "Its looks belie it not, Francis. It is the spire of the cathedral of Saint Mary, than which there is none higher in England. In the valley lies Salisbury where we will stop for rest and refreshment. Yon conical mound is Old Sarum which hath been a fortress from the earliest times. The fosse and rampart belong to the Roman period. In the vast plain which lies beneath it the Conqueror reviewed his victorious armies, and there also did the English landholders swear fealty to him." Francis looked with the delight of one who goes abroad for the first time. At the beautiful cathedral, then at the old fort, and lastly at the town itself which lay in the valley at the confluence of four rivers: the upper Avon, the Wiley, the Bourne and the Nadder. In the centre of the city was a large handsome square for the market-place from which the streets branched off at right angles. The streams flowed uncovered through the streets which added greatly to the picturesqueness of the place. Lord Stafford turned into one of the side streets, and drew rein before a small inn, The Mermaid by name. As he rode into the courtyard the host hurried forward to greet him.