"Now," he said, "let me introduce you to the ladies of my race."
At that moment the sunbeams that had been shining on the wall died out
suddenly. She looked up, half laughingly.
"I think the ladies of your race are frowning on me, Norman," she said.
"Hardly that; if they could but step down from their frames, what a
stately company they would make to welcome you!"
And forthwith he proceeded to narrate their various histories.
"This resolute woman," he said, "with the firm lips and strong, noble
face, lived in the time of the Roses; she held this old hall against her
foes for three whole weeks, until the siege was raised, and the enemy
retired discomfited."
"She was a brave woman," remarked Lady Arleigh.
"This was a heroine," he went on--"Lady Alicia Arleigh; she would not
leave London when the terrible plague raged there. It is supposed that
she saved numberless lives; she devoted herself to the nursing of the
sick, and when all the fright and fear had abated, she found herself
laden with blessings, and her name honored throughout the land. This is
Lady Lola, who in time of riot went out unattended, unarmed, quite
alone, and spoke to three or four hundred of the roughest men in the
country; they had come, in the absence of her husband, to sack and
pillage the Hall--they marched back again, leaving it untouched.
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