VICE-ADMIRAL THE HON. SIR COURTENAY 8 BOYLE AND THE HON. LADY BOYLE HON. EDMUND BOYLE, AFTERWARDS EIGHTH 52 EARL OF CORK, BORN 1787; HON. RICHARD BOYLE, ELDER BROTHER OF ABOVE, DIED YOUNG; HON. COURTENAY BOYLE, BORN 1770, AFTERWARDS VICE-ADMIRAL, K.C.B. LONGLEAT 54 MILLARD’S HILL, WITH “NARCISSUS” IN THE 164 FOREGROUND, _from a drawing by E. V. B._ GAD’S HILL 238 BURGHLEY 244 BOWOOD 250 ALTHORP 254 THE GROVE 270 HINCHINGBROOKE 272 ASHRIDGE 280 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MARY BOYLE CHAPTER I BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND FAMILY The nineteenth century was still in its teens when I first saw the light. Let me pause, lest I make an inaccurate assertion, for I was born on the 12th November, the month of fogs, in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London, the home of fogs. It was under the sign Sagittarius, whose patronage, combined with the tastes inherited from two grandfathers, both masters of hounds, made me a “mighty huntress.” “Tuesday’s child,” says the old adage, “is full of grace,” hence my vocation for, and proficiency in, dancing. The motto of my natal month is “fidelity in friendship”; my patron plant, the ivy, which almost invariably clings to things nobler and loftier than itself. And truly in this respect I have been more than commonly blessed, for, through many adverse circumstances, the coffers of my heart have overflowed with the treasures of friendship, and good measure pressed down and running over has been cast into my bosom. It is usual, at the commencement of a story, to give the description of the heroine, but a few words will suffice in the present instance. In complexion and colouring I am very fair, and have often flippantly remarked— “Angels were painted fair to look like me.”