For seven hundred years each child of the house of Norman had been brought alone by either parent and had heard some such words.

The custom had come to be almost a family ritual, and it never failed to leave its impress in greater or lesser degree.
Whenever Harold had in the early days paid a visit to Normanstand, the church had generally been an objective of their excursions.

He was always delighted to go.

His love for his own ancestry made him admire and respect that of others; so that Stephen's enthusiasm in the matter was but another cord to bind him to her.
In one of their excursions they found the door into the crypt open; and nothing would do Stephen but that they should enter it.

To-day, however, they had no light; but they arranged that on the morrow they would bring candles with them and explore the place thoroughly.