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the acquaintance of Monsieur de Marnier who quickly let us know that he held the very responsible post of Majordomo, house steward of the Chateau de Centeville. He was a very impressive personage in a blue coat with splashes of gold braid on it and large buttons which depicted something. As far as I could see at the time it seemed to be some sort of ship. Monsieur de Marnier was both gracious and disturbed. He had been misled. He had been told one gentleman.
    “This is my daughter,” explained my father.
    “I thought it was understood. I don’t travel without her. She is necessary to my work.”
    “Of course, Monsieur Collison. Of course. An oversight. I will discover … It will be necessary to have a room prepared. I will see to that. It is a bagatelle… of no importance. If you will come to the room which has been prepared for Monsieur, I will arrange for one to be made ready for Mademoiselle. We dine at eight of the clock.
    Would you care for some refreshment to be sent to your room meanwhile?
    ”
     
    I said some coffee would be excellent.
    He bowed.
    “Coffee and a little gouter. It shall be done. Please to follow me. Monsieur de Mortemer will see you at dinner. He will then acquaint you with what is expected.”
    He led the way up a wide staircase and along a gallery. Then we came to a stone spiral staircase-typically Norman, which was a further indication of the age of the castle, each step being built into the wall at one end leaving a round piece at the other as the shaft. I was a little concerned for my father as his eyes might fail him in the sudden change of light on this rather dangerous staircase. I insisted that he go ahead and I walked close behind him in case he should stumble.
    At length we came to another hall. We were very high and I could see that up here the light would be good and strong. We turned off the hall to a corridor. The servant opened the door to that room which had been allotted to my father. It was large and contained a bed and several pieces of heavy furniture of an early period. The windows were long and narrow, excluding the light; and the walls were decorated with weapons and tapestry.
    I could feel the past all around me but here again there were a few concessions to modern comfort. I saw that behind the bed a ruelle had been made. It was an alcove in which one could wash and dress a kind of dressing-room which would have no place in a Norman fortress.
    “You will be informed, Mademoiselle, when your room is ready for you,” I was told.
    Then we were alone.
    My father seemed to have cast off a good many years. He was like a mischievous boy.
    “The antiquity of everything!” he cried.
    “I could fancy I was back eight hundred years and that Duke William is going to appear suddenly to tell us that he plans to conquer England.”
    “Yes, I feel that too. It is decidedly feudal. I wonder who this Monsieur de Mortemer is?”
    “The name was spoken with such respect that he might be the son of the house.”
    “Surely the Baron who is about to be married wouldn’t have a son … one who is old enough to receive us at any rate.”
    “Could be a second marriage. I hope not. I want him to be young, unlined … Then he will look handsome.”
    “Older faces can be more interesting,” I pointed out.
    “If people realized it, yes. But they all long for the contours of youth, the un shadowed eyes, the matt complexions. For an interesting miniature give me the not so young. But so much depends on this. If we can make our subject look handsome … then we shall get many commissions. That is what we need, daughter.”
    “You talk as though they are going to accept me. I have my doubts. At the Court of Francois Premier they might have done. He loved women in every way and respected their equal right to intelligence and achievement. I doubt we shall find the same in feudal Normandy.”
    “You’re judging our host by his castle.”
    “I sense that he clings to the past. I feel it in