Here is the Lady Helena--she is not beautiful, but look at the intellect, the queenly brow, the soul-lit eyes! She, I need not tell you, was a poetess.

Wherever the English language was spoken, her verses were read--men were nobler and better for reading them.

The ladies of our race were such that brave men may be proud of them.

Is it not so, Ronald ?" "Yes," he replied, calmly; "they were noble women." Lord Earle then led his son to a large painting, upon which the western sunbeams lingered, brightening the fair face they shone upon, until it seemed living and smiling.

A deep and tender reverence stole into Lord Earle's voice as he spoke: "No fairer or more noble woman ever ruled at Earlescourt than your mother, Ronald.