kerchief to her eyes and wept audibly. The queen's eyes filled with tears. "For ten years," she said, "I was the happiest and best-beloved woman in England. There was no man like your father, Henrietta: the greatest lover and the best husband. He gave me for my dower-house a palace on the Thames, upon which the sun always shone, from west and east, north and south, beneath whose windows the whole world passed, barges with pennons flying and with music playing all the live-long day, and oft far into the night. Ah, it was a glorious time! Who would have thought of the misery to come!" She put her kerchief to her eyes and wept audibly. "It is over, Mother, it is over," said Henrietta, kneeling beside her. "It is over, Mother, it is over," said Henrietta, kneeling beside her. "It can never be over," answered the queen. "Those joy days are ever present with me, not even when your brother has avenged your father's death upon his murderers shall I forget. My sun is dimmed for ever." And a look of hatred came over her face. "We will not talk of it," she continued, shrugging her shoulders in her quick French way. "You want to know about this England, children? Well, we shall go back to Somerset House. It is my own, given to me by my husband, and there we shall dwell. It is a beautiful place, full--as I have told you--of sunlight; very different from this gloomy Louvre." "It can never be over," answered the queen. "Those joy days are ever present with me, not even when your brother has avenged your father's death upon his murderers shall I forget. My sun is dimmed for ever." And a look of hatred came over her face. "We will not talk of it," she continued, shrugging her shoulders in her quick French way. "You want to know about this England, children? Well, we shall go back to Somerset House. It is my own, given to me by my husband, and there we shall dwell. It is a beautiful place, full--as I have told you--of sunlight; very different from this gloomy Louvre." "But we have been very happy here," said Agnes. "I fear our play-days are over." "But we have been very happy here," said Agnes. "I fear our play-days are over." The queen smiled and stroked the child's face. "You are growing a big girl, Agnes; we must think of something better for you than play, ma mie." The queen smiled and stroked the child's face. "You are growing a big girl, Agnes; we must think of
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