said Henry, highly pleased. "And who, pray, after your good uncle and the Lady Anne, may your guiders be, my boy?" "Master Bolton, an Oxford scholar, is our chaplain, your Grace." "Ha? himself a pupil of our worthy Dean Colet -rest his soul! One of the new learning, too. We have high hopes of the youth of this present England, whose sponsors and preceptors are such as yours. But, body of me!" said the King, hastily, as his eye caught the little rills that coursed down Rauf's shivering but respect ful legs, in crimson and violet tides; "here stand we chat tering, and there stand you a-chattering, as well. Good Master Cary, take this young springald to our yeoman of the robes and see him suitably appareled. Thereafter will we request the Lord Cardinal, with due regard to my Lord of Dorset, and Sir Rauf, his uncle, to add him to the file of our special pages. He is a rightmannered and well-favored lad." Rauf was shrewd courtier enough to make no reply to this promise of advancement beyond the customary low bow, and he therefore kept quiet as to his extra suits of gay clothing. "He who would rise must know when to hold his tongue," his uncle had taught him; and here seemed the opportunity to put this precept to the test. On deck once more, dressed in a rich suit of crimson and violet blazoned with the Tudor rose, Rauf received with boyish sheepishness, not unmixed with his native courtesy, the well-spoken thanks of Mistress Margery Carew-a trim and sprightly little lass of near his own age, whose blue velvet gown, with its lining of crimson tinsel, well set off her fair Saxon face. She was the little daughter of Sir Richard Carew, a knight of Surrey, placed Gray, as she warmly thanked Rauf for his aid, "a sorry loss of a sprightly lass would have fallen upon us had you not so quickly taken to the water." So, in exchange of pleasant words and compliments, of questions and explanations, the crossing to the French shore was quickly made, and all too soon, as it seemed to Rauf, the ramparts and towers of Calais lay abeam. (To be continued.) "MY DEAR GRANDDAUGHTERS: Before you go to meet the little trials and temptations of the coming week, I want to make a proposition. I am old-fashioned, and I do not like to see young girls in so public a place as the café of a great fair. Your mothers differ with me, and I have no right to dissuade you. But I have asked leave to try and keep the young heads from being quite turned, and the young hearts from forgetting the sweet old virtues-modesty, obedience, and self-denial. So I write to say that I intend to give the set of pearls you all so much admire to the one who be haves best during the week. Like the fairy godmother in the story, I shall know what happens, and which of you deserves the reward. Laugh, if you will, but keep our little secret, and try to please GRANDMAMMA." This was the letter read aloud by one of three young girls, who sat together in the pretty, old-time dresses they were to wear while serving as attendants in the refreshment saloon at the fair. A very select and fashionable fair, you may be sure, or Kitty, Kate, and Catherine St. John would not be allowed to play waiter-girls in these dainty costumes pearls,-necklace, earrings, and cross, of muslin, silk, and lace. "That is just one of Grandma's queer ideas. I don't mind trying, but I know I shan't get the pearls, because I'm always doing something dreadful," said Kitty, the merry member of the Kit Kat Club, as the three cousins were called. "I'd do anything to get them, for they are perfectly lovely, and just what I want," cried Kate, dropping the letter to give the kitten in her lap a joyful squeeze. "I suppose she will find out how we spend the gold ten-dollar pieces she gave us, if she is going to know everything we do; so we must mind what we buy," added Catherine, with a frown, for she dearly loved to buy nice little things and enjoy them all by herself. "Let us see-modesty, obedience, and selfdenial.' I think it wont be very hard to behave like angels for one week," said Kate, the oldest and prettiest of the three, looking again at the letter she had read aloud. "Obedience is always hard to me, and I never expect to be an angel," laughed Kitty, while her black eyes twinkled with mirth and mischief, as she threw down her knitting. "Self-denial sounds very nice, but I do hate to give up things I want, and that is just what it means," sighed Cathy, who seldom had a chance to try this wholesome virtue in her luxurious home. "People call me vain sometimes, because I don't pretend to think I 'm a fright, when I know I'm not; so perhaps Grandma meant the 'modesty' for me," said Kate, glancing at the long mirror before her, which reflected a charming figure, all blue silk, lace ruffles, and coquettish knots of ribbon here and there. "Of course, you can't help knowing you are a beauty, with your blue eyes, yellow hair, and sweet complexion. I should be as vain as a peacock if I were half as pretty," answered Cathy, who mourned over her auburn locks and the five freckles on her rosy cheeks. But she had never looked better than now, in her pale green-andwhite costume, with fan and mitts, and the objectionable hair hidden under a big cap, that added several years to her age-a thing one does not object to at sixteen. "Now, I don't worry about looks, and, as long as I have a good time, it does n't matter if I am as brown as a berry and have a turned-up nose," said brunette Kitty, settling the cherry bows on her flounced apron, and surveying with great satisfaction her red silk hose and buckled shoes. "Wont it be delicious to own a set of real VOL. X.- -10. black velvet in a red case, with a great gold Con the outside! So glad our fathers were brothers and named us all for Grandma; now the letter suits each of us. Young girls can wear pearls, you know. Wont the necklace look well on me?” asked Kate, glancing again at the mirror, as if she already saw the new ornament on her white throat. "Lovely!" cried both the others, who heartily admired bonny Kate, and let her rule over them because she was a little older. "Don't tell any one about this trial of ours, nor what we do at the fair, and see if Grandma really does know," said Kitty, whose pranks always were found out in some mysterious manner. "She will I know she will! Grandma is a very wise old lady, and I do feel sometimes as if she really was a fairy godmother—she knows so well what we want, and do, and think about, without a word being said," added Cathy, in such an awe-stricken tone that the others laughed, and agreed that they must look well to their ways if they wanted the promised reward. The fair began next day, and a splendid opening it was, for neither time, taste, nor money had been spared to make the great hall an inviting place. The flower-table in the middle was a lovely bower of green, with singing-birds, little fountains, and the attendant young ladies dressed as roses of different sorts. At the art table, maidens in mediæval costumes made graceful pictures of themselves, and in the café old-fashioned Priscillas and neat-handed Phyllises tripped to and fro, with all the delicacies of the season on their silver salvers. Round the walls were the usual booths, full of gay trifles, and behind them sat the stately matrons who managed the affair, with their corps of smiling assistants, to beguile the money out of the full pockets of the visitors. The admission fee was so high that none but the well-to-do could enter, so no common folk mingled with the elegant crowd that soon filled the hall and went circling around the gay stalls with a soft rustle of silks, much nodding of plumed bonnets, and a lively rattling of coin, as people bought their last Christmas gifts at double the price asked for them in any shop. "Isn't it splendid?" whispered the Kit Kat Club, as they stood with their trays waiting for the first customers to appear. "I'm sure I don't see what harm Grandma could find in this," said Kate, shaking out her skirts and smoothing the golden curls shining on her temples. "Nor I," cried Kitty, prancing a little to enjoy the glitter of the buckles in her smart shoes. |