"_Helen_, dear heart, I would fain have had a better gift to offer thee, but being in the conditions I am, I thought it not right for me to spend one penny even on a gift. Howbeit, I have not spared labour nor thought, and I trust thou wilt accept mine offering, valueless though it be, for in very deed it cometh with no lesser love than the rest." "Why, _Wat_, dear heart!" crieth _Nell_, her cheeks all flushing, "dost think that which cost money, should be to me so much as half the value of thine handiwork, that had cost thee thought and toil! Nay, verily! thou couldst have given me nought, hadst thou spent forty pound, that should have been more pleasant unto me. Trust me, thy box shall be one of my best treasures so long as I do live, and I give thee hearty thanks therefor." _Walter_ looked right pleased, and saith he, "Well, in very deed I feared thou shouldst count it worth nought, for even the piece of taffeta to line the same I asked of _Mother_." "Nay, verily, not so!" saith she, and kissed him. To say _Wat_ were last, howbeit, I writ not well, for I forgat _Mynheer_, and Cousin _Bess_, the which I should not. Cousin _Bess_ marcheth up to _Nell_ with--"Well, my maid, thou hast this morrow many goodlier gifts than mine, yet not one more useful. 'Tis plain and solid, like me." And forth she holdeth a parcel which, being oped, did disclose a right warm thick hood of black serge, lined with flannel and dowlas, mighty comfortable-looking. _Mynheer_ cometh up with a courtesy and a scrape that should have beseemed a noble of the realm, and saith he-- "Mistress _Helena Van Louvaine_--for that is your true name, as I am assured of certainty--I, a _Dutchman_, have the great honour and pleasure to offer unto you, a _Dutch_ vrouw, a most precious relic of your country, being a stool for your feet, made of willow-wood that groweth by the great dyke which keepeth off from _Holland_ the waters of the sea. 'Tis true, you be of the _Nether-Land_, and this cometh of the _Hollow-Land_--for such do the names mean. Howbeit, do me the favour, _Domina mea_, to accept this token at the hands of your obeissant _paedagogus_, that should have had much pleasure in learning you the _Latin_ tongue, had it been the pleasure of your excellent elders. Alack that it were not so! for I am assured your scholarship should have been rare, and your attention thereto of the closest." _Nell_ kept her countenance (which was more than _Ned_ or _Milly_ could do), and thanked _Mynheer_ right well, ensuring him that she should essay to make herself worthy of the great honour of coming of _Dutch_ parentage. Saith _Father_ drily, "There is time yet, _Mynheer_." "For what?" saith he. "To learn Mistress _Helena_ the _Latin_? Excellent Sir, you rejoice me. When shall we begin, Mistress _Helena_?--this morrow?"