There is a story, in a beautiful book called _The Queens of England_,
about a little girl who saved her father’s life. It happened a long time
ago, when a woman named Mary was queen. Lord Preston, the father of the
little girl, loved King James, who had been sent out of England, and
wanted him to be king again. So there was a trial, and they said he must
die. While the trial was going on the little Lady Catherine, only nine
years old, was left in the queen’s room in Windsor Castle. The next day
after the trial the queen found the little girl in a picture gallery,
looking earnestly at the picture of King James which hung there. “Why do
you look at my father’s picture so strangely?” asked the queen.
“I was thinking,” said the child, “how hard it is that my father must
die for loving yours.”
[Illustration]
The queen was so touched by the reply that she pardoned Lord Preston and
gave him back to his loving little daughter, to the great joy of both.