"Oh, crikey!" he blurted out. "How can that be?"

Angle laughed at his blank astonishment.

"Mamma is a German baroness," she explained. "My papa was a colonel in the British army, but mamma did not lose her courtesy t.i.tle when she married. Of course, she is Mrs. Saumarez, too."

These subtleties of Burke and the Almanach de Gotha went over Martin's head.

"It sounds a bit like an entry in a stock catalogue," he said.

Angle, in turn, was befogged, but saw instantly that the village youth was not sufficiently reverent to the claims of rank.

"You can never be a gentleman unless you learn these things," she announced airily.

"You don't say," retorted Martin with a smile. He was really far more intelligent than this pert monitress, and had detected a curious expression on the stolid face of Franoise when the Baroness von Edelstein's name cropped up in a talk which she could not understand.

The truth was that the canny Norman woman, though willing enough to take a German mistress's gold, thoroughly disliked the lady's nationality.

Martin could only guess vaguely at something of the sort, but the mere guess sufficed.

Angle, however, wanted no more bickering just then. She was about to resume the lesson when the Baroness and Mrs. Bolland re-entered the house. Evidently the inspection of the dairy had been satisfactory, and the lady had signified her approval in words that pleased the older woman greatly.

The visitor was delighted, too, with the old-world appearance of the kitchen, the heavy rafters with their load of hams and sides of bacon, the oaken furniture, the spotless white of the well-scrubbed ash-topped table, the solemn grandfather's clock, and the rough stone floor, over which soft red sandstone had been rubbed when wet.

By this time the tact of the woman of society had accommodated her words and utterance to the limited comprehension of her hearer, and she displayed such genuine interest in the farm and its belongings that Mrs.

Bolland gave her a hearty invitation to come next morning, when the light would be stronger. Then "John" would let her see his prize stock and the extensive buildings on "t' other side o' t' road.... T' kye (the cows) were fastened up for t' neet" by this time.

The baroness was puzzled, but managed to catch the speaker's drift.

"I do not rise very early," she said. "I breakfast about eleven"--she could not imagine what a sensation this statement caused in a house where breakfast was served never later than seven o'clock--"and it takes me an hour to dress; but I can call about twelve, if that will suit."

"Ay, do, ma'am," was the cheery agreement. "You'll be able te see t'

farmhands havin' their dinner. It's a fair treat te watch them men an'

lads puttin' away a beefsteak pie."

"And this is your little boy?" said the other, evidently inclined for gossip.

"Yes, ma'am."

"He is a splendid little fellow. What a nice name you gave him--Martin Court Bolland--so unusual. How came you to select his Christian names?"

The question caused the farmer's wife a good deal of unnoticed embarra.s.sment. The baroness was looking idly at an old colored print of York Castle, and the boy himself was far too taken up with Angle to listen to the chat of his elders.

Mrs. Bolland laughed confusedly.

"Martin," she said. "Tak t' young leddy an' t' nurse as far as t' brig, an' show 'em t' mill."

The baroness was surprised at this order, but an explanation was soon forthcoming. In her labored speech and broad dialect, the farmer's wife revealed a startling romance. Thirteen years ago her husband's brother died suddenly while attending a show at Islington, and the funeral took John and herself to London. They found the place so vast and noisy that it overwhelmed them; but in the evening, after the ceremony at Abney Park, they strolled out from their hotel near King's Cross Station to see the sights.

Not knowing whither they were drifting, they found themselves, an hour later, gazing at St. Paul's Cathedral from the foot of Ludgate Hill.

They were walking toward the stately edifice, when a terrible thing happened.

A young woman fell, or threw herself, from a fourth-floor window onto the pavement of St. Martin's Court. In her arms was an infant, a boy twelve months old. Providence saved him from the instant death met by his mother. A projecting signboard caught his clothing, tore him from the encircling arms, and held him a precarious second until the rent frock gave way.

But John Bolland's sharp eyes had noted the child's momentary escape. He sprang forward and caught the tiny body as it dropped. At that hour, nearly nine o'clock, the court was deserted, and Ludgate Hill had lost much of its daily crowd. Of course, a number of pa.s.sers-by gathered; and a policeman took the names and address of the farmer and his wife, they being the only actual witnesses of the tragedy.

But what was to be done with the baby? Mrs. Bolland volunteered to take care of it for the night, and the policeman was glad enough to leave it with her when he ascertained that no one in the house from which the woman fell knew anything about her save that she was a "Mrs. Martineau,"

and rented a furnished room beneath the attic.

The inquest detained the Bollands another day in town. Police inquiries showed that the unfortunate young woman had committed suicide. A letter, stuck to a dressing-table with a hatpin, stated her intention, and that her name was not Martineau. Would the lady like to see the letter?

"Oh, dear, no!" said the baroness hastily. "Your story is awfully interesting, but I could not bear to read the poor creature's words."

Well, the rest was obvious. Mrs. Bolland was childless after twenty years of married life. She begged for the bairn, and her husband allowed her to adopt it. They gave the boy their own name, but christened him after the scene of his mother's death and his own miraculous escape. And there he was now, coming up the village street, leading Angle confidently by the hand--a fine, intelligent lad, and wholly different from every other boy in the village.

Not even the squire's sons equaled him in any respect, and the teacher of the village school gave him special lessons. Perhaps the lady had noticed the way he spoke. The teacher was proud of Martin's abilities, and he tried to please her by not using the Yorkshire dialect.

"Ah, I see," said the baroness quietly. "His history is quite romantic.

But what will he become when he grows up--a farmer, like his adopted father?"

"John thinks te mak' him a minister," said Mrs. Bolland with genial pride.

"A minister! Do you mean a preacher, a Nonconformist person?"

"Why, yes, ma'am. John wouldn't hear of his bein' a parson."

"Grand Dieu! Quelle btise! I beg your pardon. Of course, you will do what is best for him.... Well, ma belle, have you enjoyed your little walk?"

"Oh, so much, mamma. The miller has such lovely pigs, so fat, so tight that you can't pinch them. And there's a beautiful dog, with four puppy dogs. I'm so glad we came here. J'en suis bien aise."

"She's a queer little girl," said Mrs. Bolland, as Martin and she watched the party walking back to The Elms. "I couldn't tell half what she said."

"No, mother," he replied. "She goes off into French without thinking, and her mother's a German baroness, who married an English officer. The nurse doesn't speak any English. I wish I knew French and German.

French, at any rate."

CHAPTER III

THE SEEDS OF MISCHIEF

Preparations for the forthcoming "Feast" were varied by gossip concerning "the baroness," her daughter, and the Normandy _bonne_.

Elmsdale had never before set eyes on any human beings quite so foreign to its environment. At first, the canny Yorkshire folk were much intrigued by the lady's t.i.tle. A princess or a d.u.c.h.ess they had read of; a marchioness and a countess they had seen, because the county of broad acres finds room for a great many n.o.ble houses; and baronets' wives, each a "Lady" by perspective right, were so plentiful as to arouse no special comment.

But a "baroness" was rather un-English, while Elmsdale frankly refused to p.r.o.nounce her name other than "Eedelsteen." The village was ready to allude to her as "her ladyship," but was still doubtful whether or not to grant her the prefix "Lady," when the question was settled in a wholly unexpected way by the announcement that the baroness preferred to be addressed as "Mrs. Saumarez." In fact, she was rather annoyed that Angle should have flaunted the t.i.tle at all.

"I am English by marriage, and proud of my husband's name," she explained. "He was a gallant officer, who fell in the Boer War, and I have long since left the use of my German rank for purely official occasions. It is no secret, of course, but Angle should not have mentioned it."

Elmsdale liked this democratic utterance. It made these blunt Yorkshire folk far readier to address her as "your ladyship" than would have been the case otherwise, and, truth to tell, she never chided them for any lapse of the sort, though, in accordance with her wish, she became generally known as Mrs. Saumarez.