The heroine Belinda (whose real name was Arabella Fermor), famous for her beauty and for her “sprightly mind,” was wooed by a certain young Lord Petre, who ardently desired to possess one of “the shining ringlets” that decked “her smooth ivory neck.” Meanwhile invisible sylphs and sprites, aware that some “dire disaster” threatens to befall the unconscious Belinda, hover protectingly about her. Even the very cards take part in the drama, giving omens alternately of good or of evil. At last Belinda wins the game and rejoices, but all too soon it seems in her triumph. The cards removed “the board with cups and spoons is crowned, The berries crackle and the mill turns round, but coffee alas! Sent up in vapours to the Baron’s brain, New stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain. ... Just then Clarissa drew, with tempting grace, A two-edged weapon from her shining case. He takes the gift with reverence and extends The little engine on his fingers’ ends; This just behind Belinda’s neck he spread As o’er the fragrant steams she bends her head. Swift to the Lock a thousand sprites repair, A thousand wings by turns blow back the hair; The peer now spreads the glittering forfex wide To enclose the Lock; now joins it to divide. ... The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, for ever and for ever! * * * * * The Lock, obtained with guilt and kept with pain, In every place is sought, but sought in vain: With such a prize no mortal must be blest, So Heaven decrees: with Heaven who can contest? ... Then cease, bright nymph! to mourn thy ravished hair Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! Not all the tresses that fair heads can boast Shall draw such envy as the Lock you lost. For after all the murders of your eye, When after millions slain, yourself shall die. ... This Lock the Muse shall consecrate to fame, And ‘midst the stars inscribe Belinda’s name.” [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIX UFTON COURT One of the most striking buildings in the beautiful county of Berkshire often visited by Miss Mitford is Ufton Court, a stately manor-house of considerable extent “that stands on the summit of a steep acclivity looking over a rich and fertile valley to a range of wooded hills.” The court is approached by a double avenue of oaks, on emerging from which the fine old Elizabethan mansion is seen rising beyond its smooth-spreading lawns and shady trees. It is surmounted “by more gable ends than a lazy man would care to count on a sunny day,” and by tall clustered chimneys. Its long façade is flanked by two projecting wings, and in the centre is a large porch, forming the letter E in the true Elizabethan style. The entrance door of solid oak studded with great nails might well have resisted an ancient battering-ram. [Illustration: THE PORCH]