POPULAR TALES OF FLOWERS 
320 
Altars were erected in those valleys, and yeaned lambs, 
offered up to the immortal nymph, whom they believed 
often came back in the form of a butterfly to visit the 
green glades of Arcadia; and many a piece of ancient 
sculpture, half buried with flowers, has been found in the 
vale of Arcadia, representing Cupid and Psyche enfolded 
in each other’s arms. 
THE STORY OF ELLEN NEVILLE. 
It was towards the close of the civil wars, when the storm 
which had long shaken England was somewhat assuaged, 
and the cavalry of Cromwell had all but trampled under 
foot the last remains of the Royal army — when wealthy 
estates were daily confiscated, and the heir of many a 
noble race slept his long sleep upon the battle-field — that 
young Marchmont, who had risen to the rank of general 
in the army of the Commonwealth, came to take posses- 
sion of the ancient manor-house of the Nevilles, armed 
with the broad seal of Cromwell and his Parliament : for 
the last of the Nevilles had died a warrior’s death, and 
fallen, fighting nobly, at the battle of Marston Moor. 
While yet clothed in deep mourning for the death of 
her brother, Ellen Neville received the commands of the 
stern Protector to resign for ever the home of her fore- 
fathers into the hands of a stranger. A strict inventory 
had been taken of every article which the house con- 
tained ; and saving her own wardrobe and a miniature of 
her mother, she left the hearth of her ancestors a home- 
less and penniless orphan. 
The shadows of evening were settling down upon the 
old park, when, followed by her attendant, Phoebe, she 
walked with sad heart down the long avenue of ancient 
elms, in the direction of the lodge. It was still very 
early in the spring, and, before quitting the park gates, 
she stooped down and gathered two or three pale Snow- 
drops, and then, with a heavy sigh, left the park, while 
the massy iron gates swung behind her as if with a heavy 
and complaining sound. She turned round to take a fare- 
well look just as the sinking sun flashed redly upon the 
