Berenger saw the Ambassador was displeased with his reluctance, and answered quickly, ’In sooth, my Lord, I would esteem myself only too happy to be thus honoured, but in sooth——­’ he repeated himself, and faltered.

‘In sooth, you expected more freedom than in my grave house,’ said Walsingham, displeased.

’Not so, my Lord:  it would be all that I could desire; but I have done hastily.  A kinsman of mine has come up to Paris with me, and I have made him my guest.  I know not how to break with him—­the Chevalier de Ribaumont.’

‘What, the young ruffler in Monsieur’s suite?’

’No, my Lord; his father.  He comes on my business.  He is an old man, and can ill bear the cost, and I could scarce throw him over.’

Berenger spoke with such earnest, bright, open simplicity, and look so boyish and confiding, that Sir Francis’s heart was won, and he smiled as he said, ’Right, lad, you are a considerate youth.  It were not well to cast off your kinsman; but when you have read your letters, you may well plead your grandfather’s desires, to say nothing of a hint from her Grace to have an eye to you.  And for the rest, you can acquit yourself gracefully to the gentleman, by asking him to occupy the lodging that you had taken.’

Berenger’s face brightened up in a manner that spoke for his sincerity; and Sir Francis added, ‘And where be these lodgings?’

‘At the Croix de Lorraine.’

’Ha!  Your kinsman has taken you into a nest of Guisards.  But come, let me present you to my wife and my other guests, then will I give you your letters, and you shall return and make your excuses to Monsieur le Chevalier.’

Berenger seemed to himself to be on familiar ground again as his host thus assumed the direction of him and ushered him into a large dining-hall, where the table had been forsaken in favour of a lesser table placed in the ample window, round which sat assembled some six or eight persons, with fruit, wine, and conserves before them, a few little dogs at their feet or on their laps, and a lute lying on the knee of one of the young gentlemen.  Sir Francis presented the young Lord de Ribaumont, their expected guest, to Lady Walsingham, from whom he received a cordial welcome, and her two little daughter, Frances and Elizabeth, and likewise to the gentleman with the lute, a youth about a year older than Berenger, and of very striking and prepossessing countenance, who was named as Mr. Sidney, the son of the Lord Deputy of Ireland.  A couple of gentlemen who would in these times have been termed attaches, a couple of lady attendants upon Lady Walsingham, and the chaplain made up the party, which on this day chanced only to include, besides the household, the young traveller, Sidney.  Berenger was at once seated, and accepted a welcoming-cup of wine (i.e. a long slender glass with a beautifully twisted stem), responded to friendly inquiries about his relatives at home, and acknowledged the healths