"'A dog shall die in this room,' she said, 'and then the kingdom which you will lose shall be restored to your family.' [Illustration: DEATH OF CARDINAL WOLSEY.] "Many years passed; and Oliver Cromwell, attended by his faithful dog, came to Hampton Court Palace and slept in this room. When he awoke in the morning, the dog was dead. "'The kingdom has departed from me,' he said, recalling the gypsy's prophecy; and so it proved. "Of course the story of the gypsy's mirror is untrue, but the legend is a part of the old romance of the palace; and such poetic incidents, though false colored lights, serve to impress the facts of history more vividly on the mind. [Illustration: CHILDREN OF CHARLES I.] "This legend of Charles I.," continued Master Lewis, "reminds me of a more pleasant story, which I will tell you, now that you are at the palace where the king brought his bride when life looked so fair and promising. I will call the story-- THE DUCHESS'S WONDERFUL PIE. "There were gala days at Paris,--wedding days. Then the new Queen of England, Henrietta Maria, who had been married amid music and rejoicings and strewings of flowers, made a journey to the sea, that she might embark for England and see her new husband to whom she had been married by proxy. There were more rejoicings when she landed at Dover. [Illustration: OLIVER CROMWELL.] "It was the plague time in London, so the gala days were omitted there; but the new queen had some magnificent receptions at Burleigh-on-the-hill, the residence of the king's favorite, the Duke of Buckingham. [Illustration: QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA.] "There was one reception which the duke gave to the royal bride and bridegroom that was a surprise and delight. It was a banquet; the tables were sumptuous and splendid, and on one of them was a very large pie,--as large as that is supposed to be in which the four-and-twenty blackbirds of nursery-rhyme fame are said to have been concealed. The pie excited wonder, but the guests all knew that it was some "'Dainty dish To set before the king.' "The banquet passed gayly, and the time came to serve the wonderful pie. The crust was being removed, when instead of four-and-twenty blackbirds flying out, up popped a little man. He was a chipper little fellow, yet very polite, and was armed _cap-à-pie_. "This was the first introduction of Jeffrey Hudson to the English king and queen. The pie had been purposely constructed to hold the little fellow, who, when the duchess made an incision in his castle of paste, shifted his situation until sufficient room was made for his appearance. "The queen expressing herself greatly pleased with his person and manners, the duchess presented him to her. "This dwarf became very famous in the court of the queen." * * * * *