" With such
men as these the sweet spirit was kept aflame and eventually changed
England and made her the great country she is. But in those licentious
days this sweet spirit shone from its impure surroundings like the
_ignis fatuus_, and 'twas a great, wicked world that Mistress Penwick
stood all alone in that early summer night.
A nightingale sung afar in some bowery of blossom, and for a moment
she listened.
"'Tis an ode to the night he sings, 'tis too clear and high and full
of cadence for a nuptial mass,--nay, nay, I shall not marry to-night,
I will go and see what dear father Constantine wishes and return to
this home that has never seemed so fair to me before;--and my lord is
handsome and so, too, is Sir Julian and I'm fond of their Graces of
Ells wold and Janet,--Janet, I love her best of all. Nay, nay, I'll
not be married. I will go and see and return. Janet will not look for
me above stair before eleven at least. I shall be home again ere I'm
missed." She thought thus as she hurried on through the courtyard and
beyond, where waited Father Dempsy.
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