"And right fain should I be," saith she; and so said _Father_ likewise. Then _Mother_ told us who were these her old friends: to wit, Sir _Robert Stafford_ and his lady, which was of old time one Mistress _Dulcibel Fenton_, of far kin unto my Lady _Norris_, that was _Mother's_ mistress of old days at _Minster Lovel_: and moreover, one Mistress _Martin_, a widow that is sister unto Sir _Robert_, and was _Mother's_ fellow when she served my dear-worthy Lady of _Surrey_. So _Father_ saith he would ride o'er himself to _Ambleside_, and give them better welcome than to send but a letter back: and _Mother_ did desire her most loving commendations unto them all, and bade us all be hasteful and help to make ready the guest-chambers. So right busy were we all the morrow, and no time for no tales of no sort: but in the afternoon, when all was done, Aunt _Joyce_ had us three up into her chamber, and bade us sit and listen. "For it is a sorrowful story I have to tell," saith she: and added, as though she spake to herself,--"ay, and it were best got o'er ere _Dulcie_ cometh." So we sat all in the window-seat, _Milly_ in the midst, and Aunt _Joyce_ afore us in a great cushioned chair. "When I was of your years, _Milly_," saith she, "I dwelt--where I now do at _Minster Lovel_, with my father and my sister _Anstace_. Our mother was dead, and our baby brother _Walter_; and of us there had never been more. But we had two cousins--one _Aubrey Louvaine_, the son of our mother's sister,--you wot who he is," she saith, and smiled: "and the other, the son of our father's sister dwelt at _Oxford_ with his mother, a widow, and his name was--_Leonard Norris_." The name was so long a-coming that I marvelled if she meant to tell us.