This had
apparently been a working adjunct to the domestic arrangements of every
respectable family, and that irritating persons should dangle from
it had been a simple domestic necessity, if one were to believe old
stories.
"It was then that nobles were regarded with respect," he said, with his
fine smile. "In the days when a man appeared with clang of arms and
with javelins and spears before, and donjon keeps in the background, the
attitude of bent knees and awful reverence were the inevitable results.
When one could hang a servant on one's own private gallows, or chop off
his hand for irreverence or disobedience--obedience and reverence were a
rule. Now, a month's notice is the extremity of punishment, and the old
pomp of armed servitors suggests comic opera. But we can show you relics
of it at Dunholm."
He joined his wife and began at once to make himself so delightful to
Rosy that she ceased to be afraid of him, and ended by talking almost
gaily of her London visit.
Betty and Westholt walked together. The afternoon being lovely, they had
all sauntered into the park to look at certain views, and the sun
was shining between the trees. Betty thought the young man almost as
charming as his father, which was saying much.
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