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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pigeon Pie, by Charlotte M. Yonge
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+Title:  The Pigeon Pie
+
+Author:  Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+April, 2001  [Etext #2606]
+
+
+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pigeon Pie, by Charlotte M. Yonge
+******This file should be named pigpi10.txt or pigpi10.zip******
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+This etext was prepared by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+from the 1905 A. R. Mowbray & Co. edition.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PIGEON PIE
+
+by Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+Early in the September of the year 1651 the afternoon sun was shining
+pleasantly into the dining-hall of Forest Lea House.  The sunshine
+came through a large bay-window, glazed in diamonds, and with long
+branches of a vine trailing across it, but in parts the glass had
+been broken and had never been mended.  The walls were wainscoted
+with dark oak, as well as the floor, which shone bright with rubbing,
+and stag's antlers projected from them, on which hung a sword in its
+sheath, one or two odd gauntlets, an old-fashioned helmet, a gun,
+some bows and arrows, and two of the broad shady hats then in use,
+one with a drooping black feather, the other plainer and a good deal
+the worse for wear, both of a small size, as if belonging to a young
+boy.
+
+An oaken screen crossed the hall, close to the front door, and there
+was a large open fireplace, a settle on each side under the great
+yawning chimney, where however at present no fire was burning.
+Before it was a long dining-table covered towards the upper end with
+a delicately white cloth, on which stood, however, a few trenchers,
+plain drinking-horns, and a large old-fashioned black-jack, that is
+to say, a pitcher formed of leather.  An armchair was at the head of
+the table, and heavy oaken benches along the side.
+
+A little boy of six years old sat astride on the end of one of the
+benches, round which he had thrown a bridle of plaited rushes, and,
+with a switch in his other hand, was springing himself up and down,
+calling out, "Come, Eleanor, come, Lucy; come and ride on a pillion
+behind me to Worcester, to see King Charles and brother Edmund."
+
+"I'll come, I am coming!" cried Eleanor, a little girl about a year
+older, her hair put tightly away under a plain round cap, and she was
+soon perched sideways behind her brother.
+
+"Oh, fie, Mistress Eleanor; why, you would not ride to the wars?"
+This was said by a woman of about four or five-and-twenty, tall, thin
+and spare, with a high colour, sharp black eyes, and a waist which
+the long stiff stays, laced in front, had pinched in till it was not
+much bigger than a wasp's, while her quilted green petticoat,
+standing out full below it, showed a very trim pair of ankles encased
+in scarlet stockings, and a pair of bony red arms came forth from the
+full short sleeves of a sort of white jacket, gathered in at the
+waist.  She was clattering backwards and forwards, removing the
+dinner things, and talking to the children as she did so in a sharp
+shrill tone:  "Such a racket as you make, to be sure, and how you can
+have the heart to do so I can't guess, not I, considering what may be
+doing this very moment."
+
+"Oh, but Walter says they will all come back again, brother Edmund,
+and Diggory, and all," said little Eleanor, "and then we shall be
+merry."
+
+"Yes," said Lucy, who, though two years older, wore the same prim
+round cap and long frock as her little sister, "then we shall have
+Edmund here again.  You can't remember him at all, Eleanor and
+Charlie, for we have not seen him these six years!"
+
+"No," said Deborah, the maid.  "Ah! these be weary wars, what won't
+let a gentleman live at home in peace, nor his poor servants, who
+have no call to them."
+
+ "For shame, Deb!" cried Lucy; "are not you the King's own subject?"
+
+But Deborah maundered on, "It is all very well for gentlefolks, but
+now it had all got quiet again, 'tis mortal hard it should be stirred
+up afresh, and a poor soul marched off, he don't know where, to fight
+with he don't know who, for he don't know what."
+
+"He ought to know what!" exclaimed Lucy, growing very angry.  "I tell
+you, Deb, I only wish I was a man!  I would take the great two-
+handled sword, and fight in the very front rank for our Church and
+our King!  You would soon see what a brave cavalier's daughter--son I
+mean," said Lucy, getting into a puzzle, "could do."
+
+The more eager Lucy grew, the more unhappy Deborah was, and putting
+her apron to her eyes, she said in a dismal voice, "Ah! 'tis little
+poor Diggory wots of kings and cavaliers!"
+
+What Lucy's indignation would have led her to say next can never be
+known, for at this moment in bounced a tall slim boy of thirteen, his
+long curling locks streaming tangled behind him.  "Hollo!" he
+shouted, "what is the matter now?  Dainty Deborah in the dumps?
+Cheer up, my lass!  I'll warrant that doughty Diggory is discreet
+enough to encounter no more bullets than he can reasonably avoid!"
+
+This made Deborah throw down her apron and reply, with a toss of the
+head, "None of your nonsense, Master Walter, unless you would have me
+speak to my lady.  Cry for Diggory, indeed!"
+
+"She was really crying for him, Walter," interposed Lucy.
+
+"Mistress Lucy!" exclaimed Deborah, angrily, "the life I lead among
+you is enough--"
+
+"Not enough to teach you good temper," said Walter.  "Do you want a
+little more?"
+
+"I wish someone was here to teach you good manners," answered the
+tormented Deborah.  "As if it was not enough for one poor girl to
+have the work of ten servants on her hands, here must you be mock,
+mock, jeer, jeer, worrit, worrit, all day long!  I had rather be a
+mark for all the musketeers in the Parliamentary army."
+
+This Deborah always said when she was out of temper, and it therefore
+made Walter and Lucy laugh the more; but in the midst of their
+merriment in came a girl of sixteen or seventeen, tall and graceful.
+Her head was bare, her hair fastened in a knot behind, and in little
+curls round her face; she had an open bodice of green silk, and a
+white dress under it, very plain and neat; her step was quick and
+active, but her large dark eyes had a grave thoughtful look, as if
+she was one who would naturally have loved to sit still and think,
+better than to bustle about and be busy.  Eleanor ran up to her at
+once, complaining that Walter was teasing Deborah shamefully.  She
+was going to speak, but Deborah cut her short.
+
+"No Mistress Rose, I will not have even you excuse him, I'll go and
+tell my lady how a poor faithful wench is served;" and away she
+flounced, followed by Rose.
+
+"Will she tell mamma?" asked little Charlie.
+
+"Oh no, Rose will pacify her," said Lucy.
+
+"I am sure I wish she would tell," said Eleanor, a much graver little
+person than Lucy; "Walter is too bad."
+
+"It is only to save Diggory the trouble of taking a crabstick to her
+when he returns from the wars," said Walter.  "Heigh ho!" and he
+threw himself on the bench, and drummed on the table.  "I wish I was
+there!  I wonder what is doing at Worcester this minute!"
+
+"When will brother Edmund come?" asked Charlie for about the
+hundredth time.
+
+"When the battle is fought, and the battle is won, and King Charles
+enjoys his own again!  Hurrah!" shouted Walter, jumping up, and
+beginning to sing -
+
+
+"For forty years our royal throne
+Has been his father's and his own."
+
+
+Lucy joined in with -
+
+
+"Nor is there anyone but he
+With right can there a sharer be."
+
+
+"How can you make such a noise?" said Eleanor, stopping her ears, by
+which she provoked Walter to go on roaring into them, while he pulled
+down her hand -
+
+
+"For who better may
+The right sceptre sway
+Than he whose right it is to reign;
+Then look for no peace,
+For the war will never cease
+Till the King enjoys his own again."
+
+
+As he came to the last line, Rose returning exclaimed, "Oh, hush,
+Lucy.  Pray don't, Walter!"
+
+"Ha!  Rose turned Roundhead?" cried Walter.  "You don't deserve to
+hear the good news from Worcester."
+
+"O, what?" cried the girls, eagerly.
+
+"When it comes," said Walter, delighted to have taken in Rose
+herself; but Rose, going up to him gently, implored him to be quiet,
+and listen to her.
+
+"All this noisy rejoicing grieves our mother," said she.  "If you
+could but have seen her yesterday evening, when she heard your loyal
+songs.  She sighed, and said, 'Poor fellow, how high his hopes are!'
+and then she talked of our father and that evening before the fight
+at Naseby."
+
+Walter looked grave and said, "I remember!  My father lifted me on
+the table to drink King Charles's health, and Prince Rupert--I
+remember his scarlet mantle and white plume--patted my head, and
+called me his little cavalier."
+
+"We sat apart with mother," said Rose, "and heard the loud cheers and
+songs till we were half frightened at the noise."
+
+"I can't recollect all that," said Lucy.
+
+"At least you ought not to forget how our dear father came in with
+Edmund, and kissed us, and bade mother keep up a good heart.  Don't
+you remember that, Lucy?"
+
+"I do," said Walter; "it was the last time we ever saw him."
+
+And Walter sat on the table, resting one foot on the bench, while the
+other dangled down, and leaning his elbow on his knee and his head on
+his hand; Rose sat on the bench close by him, with Charlie on her
+lap, and the two little girls pressing close against her, all earnest
+to hear from her the story of the great fight of Naseby, where they
+had all been in a farmhouse about a mile from the field of battle.
+
+"I don't forget how the cannon roared all day," said Lucy.
+
+"Ah! that dismal day!" said Rose.  "Then by came our troopers, blood-
+stained and disorderly, riding so fast that scarcely one waited to
+tell my mother that the day was lost and she had better fly.  But not
+a step did she stir from the gate, where she stood with you, Charlie,
+in her arms; she only asked of each as he passed if he had seen my
+father or Edmund, and ever her cheek grew whiter and whiter.  At last
+came a Parliament officer on horseback--it was Mr. Enderby, who had
+been a college mate of my father's, and he told us that my dear
+father was wounded, and had sent him to fetch her."
+
+"But I never knew where Edmund was then," said Eleanor.  "No one ever
+told me."
+
+"Edmund lifted up my father when he fell," said Walter, "and was
+trying to bind his wound; but when Colonel Enderby's troop was close
+upon them, my father charged him upon his duty to fly, saying that he
+should fall into the hands of an old friend, and it was Edmund's duty
+to save himself to fight for the King another time."
+
+"So Edmund followed Prince Rupert?" said Eleanor.
+
+"Yes," said Lucy; "you know my father once saved Prince Rupert's life
+in the skirmish where his horse was killed, so for his sake the
+Prince made Edmund his page, and has had him with him in all his
+voyages and wanderings.  But go on about our father, Rose.  Did we go
+to see him?"
+
+"No; Mr. Enderby said he was too far off, so he left a trooper to
+guard us, and my mother only took her little babe with her.  Don't
+you remember, Walter, how Eleanor screamed after her, as she rode
+away on the colonel's horse; and how we could not comfort the little
+ones, till they had cried themselves to sleep, poor little things?
+And in the morning she came back, and told us our dear father was
+dead!  O Walter, how can we look back to that day, and rejoice in a
+new war?  How can you wonder her heart should sink at sounds of joy
+which have so often ended in tears?"
+
+Walter twisted about and muttered, but he could not resist his
+sister's earnest face and tearful eyes, and said something about not
+making so much noise in the house.
+
+"There's my own dear brother," said Rose.  "And you won't tease
+Deborah?"
+
+"That is too much, Rose.  It is all the sport I have, to see the
+faces she makes when I plague her about Diggory.  Besides, it serves
+her right for having such a temper."
+
+"She has not a good temper, poor thing!" said Rose; "but if you would
+only think how true and honest she is, how hard she toils, and how
+ill she fares, and yet how steadily she holds to us, you would surely
+not plague and torment her."
+
+Rose was interrupted by a great outcry, and in rushed Deborah,
+screaming out, "Lack-a-day!  Mistress Rose!  O Master Walter! what
+will become of us?  The fight is lost, the King fled, and a whole
+regiment of red-coats burning and plundering the whole country.  Our
+throats will be cut, every one of them!"
+
+"You'll have a chance of being a mark for all the musketeers in the
+Parliament army," said Walter, who even then could not miss a piece
+of mischief.
+
+"Joking now, Master Walter!" cried Deborah, very much shocked.  "That
+is what I call downright sinful.  I hope you'll be made a mark of
+yourself, that I do."
+
+The children were running off to tell their mother, when Rose stopped
+them, and desired to know how Deborah had heard the tidings.  It was
+from two little children from the village who had come to bring a
+present of some pigeons to my lady.  Rose went herself to examine the
+children, but she could only learn that a packman had come into the
+village and brought the report that the King had been defeated, and
+had fled from the field.  They knew no more, and Walter pronouncing
+it to be all a cock-and-bull story of some rascally prick-eared
+pedlar, declared he would go down to the village and enquire into the
+rights of it.
+
+These were the saddest times of English history, when the wrong cause
+had been permitted for a time to triumph, and the true and rightful
+side was persecuted; and among those who endured affliction for the
+sake of their Church and their King, none suffered more, or more
+patiently, than Lady Woodley, or, as she was called in the old
+English fashion, Dame Mary Woodley, of Forest Lea.
+
+When first the war broke out she was living happily in her pleasant
+home with her husband and children; but when King Charles raised his
+standard at Nottingham, all this comfort and happiness had to be
+given up.  Sir Walter Woodley joined the royal army, and it soon
+became unsafe for his wife and children to remain at home, so that
+they were forced to go about with him, and suffer all the hardships
+of the sieges and battles.  Lady Woodley was never strong, and her
+health was very much hurt by all she went through; she was almost
+always unwell, and if Rose, though then quite a child, had not shown
+care and sense beyond her years for the little ones, it would be hard
+to say what would have become of them.
+
+Yet all she endured while dragging about her little babies through
+the country, with bad or insufficient food, uncomfortable lodgings,
+pain, weariness and anxiety, would have been as nothing but for the
+heavy sorrows that came upon her also.  First she lost her only
+brother, Edmund Mowbray, and in the battle of Naseby her husband was
+killed; besides which there were the sorrows of the whole nation in
+seeing the King sold, insulted, misused, and finally slain, by his
+own subjects.  After Sir Walter's death, Lady Woodley went home with
+her five younger children to her father's house at Forest Lea; for
+her husband's estate, Edmund's own inheritance, had been seized and
+sequestrated by the rebels.  She was the heiress of Forest Lea since
+the loss of her brother, but the old Mr. Mowbray, her father, had
+given almost all his wealth for the royal cause, and had been
+oppressed by the exactions of the rebels, so that he had nothing to
+leave his daughter but the desolate old house and a few bare acres of
+land.  For the shelter, however, Lady Woodley was very thankful; and
+there she lived with her children and a faithful servant, Deborah,
+whose family had always served the Mowbrays, and who would not desert
+their daughter now.
+
+The neighbours in the village loved, and were sorry for, their lady,
+and used to send her little presents; there was a large garden in
+which Diggory Stokes, who had also served her father, raised
+vegetables for her use; the cow wandered in the deserted park, and so
+they contrived to find food; while all the work of the house was done
+by Rose and Deborah.  Rose was her mother's great comfort, nursing
+her, cheering her, taking care of the little ones, teaching them,
+working for them, and making light of all her exertions.  Everyone in
+the village loved Rose Woodley, for everyone had in some way been
+helped or cheered by her.  Her mother was only sometimes afraid she
+worked too hard, and would try her strength too much; but she was
+always bright and cheerful, and when the day's work was done no one
+was more gay and lively and ready for play with the little ones.
+
+Rose had more trial than anyone knew with Deborah.  Deborah was as
+faithful as possible, and bore a great deal for the sake of her
+mistress, worked hard day and night, had little to eat and no wages,
+yet lived on with them rather than forsake her dear lady and the
+children.  One thing, however, Deborah would not do, and that was to
+learn to rule her tongue and her temper.  She did not know, nor do
+many excellent servants, how much trial and discomfort she gave to
+those she loved so earnestly, by her constant bursting out into hasty
+words whenever she was vexed--her grumbling about whatever she
+disliked, and her ill-judged scolding of the children.  Servants in
+those days were allowed to speak more freely to their masters and
+mistresses than at present, so that Deborah had more opportunity of
+making such speeches, and it was Rose's continual work to try to keep
+her temper from being fretted, or Lady Woodley from being teased with
+her complaints.  Rose was very forbearing, and but for this there
+would have been little peace in the house.
+
+Walter was thirteen, an age when it is not easy to keep boys in
+order, unless they will do so for themselves.  Though a brave
+generous boy, he was often unruly and inconsiderate, apt not to obey,
+and to do what he knew to be unkind or wrong, just for the sake of
+present amusement.  He was thus his mother's great anxiety, for she
+knew that she was not fit either to teach or to restrain him, and she
+feared that his present wild disobedient ways might hurt his
+character for ever, and lead to dispositions which would in time
+swallow up all the good about him, and make him what he would now
+tremble to think of.
+
+She used to talk of her anxieties to Doctor Bathurst, the good old
+clergyman who had been driven away from his parish, but used to come
+in secret to help, teach, and use his ministry for the faithful ones
+of his flock.  He would tell her that while she did her best for her
+son, she must trust the rest to his FATHER above, and she might do so
+hopefully, since it had been in His own cause that the boy had been
+made fatherless.  Then he would speak to Walter, showing him how
+wrong and how cruel were his overbearing, disobedient ways.  Walter
+was grieved, and resolved to improve and become steadier, that he
+might be a comfort and blessing to his mother; but in his love of fun
+and mischief he was apt to forget himself, and then drove away what
+might have been in time repentance and improvement, by fancying he
+did no harm.  Teasing Deborah served her right, he would tell
+himself, she was so ill-tempered and foolish; Diggory was a clod, and
+would do nothing without scolding; it was a good joke to tease
+Charlie; Eleanor was a vexatious little thing, and he would not be
+ordered by her; so he went his own way, and taught the merry
+chattering Lucy to be very nearly as bad as himself, neglected his
+duties, set a bad example, tormented a faithful servant, and
+seriously distressed his mother.  Give him some great cause, he
+thought, and he would be the first and the best, bring back the King,
+protect his mother and sisters, and perform glorious deeds, such as
+would make his name be remembered for ever.  Then it would be seen
+what he was worth; in the meantime he lived a dull life, with nothing
+to do, and he must have some fun.  It did not signify if he was not
+particular about little things, they were women's affairs, and all
+very well for Rose, but when some really important matter came, that
+would be his time for distinguishing himself.
+
+In the meantime Charles II. had been invited to Scotland, and had
+brought with him, as an attendant, Edmund Woodley, the eldest son.
+As soon as he was known to have entered England, some of the loyal
+gentlemen of the neighbourhood of Forest Lea went to join the King,
+and among their followers went Farmer Ewins, who had fought bravely
+in the former war under Edmund Mowbray, several other of the men of
+the village, and lastly, Diggory Stokes, Lady Woodley's serving man,
+who had lately shown symptoms of discontent with his place, and
+fancied that as a soldier he might fare better, make his fortune, and
+come home prosperously to marry his sweetheart, Deborah.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+
+Walter ran down to the village at full speed.  He first bent his
+steps towards the "Half-Moon," the little public-house, where news
+was sure to be met with.  As he came towards it, however, he heard
+the loud sound of a man's voice going steadily on as if with some
+discourse.  "Some preachment," said he to himself:  "they've got a
+thorough-going Roundhead, I can hear his twang through his nose!
+Shall I go in or not?"
+
+While he was asking himself this question, an old peasant in a round
+frock came towards him.
+
+"Hollo, Will!" shouted Walter, "what prick-eared rogue have you got
+there?"
+
+"Hush, hush, Master Walter!" said the old man, taking off his hat
+very respectfully.  "Best take care what you say, there be plenty of
+red-coats about.  There's one of them now preaching away in
+marvellous pied words.  It is downright shocking to hear the Bible
+hollaed out after that sort, so I came away.  Don't you go nigh him,
+sir, 'specially with your hat set on in that--"
+
+"Never mind my hat," said Walter, impatiently, "it is no business of
+yours, and I'll wear it as I please in spite of old Noll and all his
+crew."
+
+For his forefathers' sake, and for the love of his mother and sister,
+the good village people bore with Walter's haughtiness and
+discourtesy far more than was good for him, and the old man did not
+show how much he was hurt by his rough reception of his good advice.
+Walter was not reminded that he ought to rise up before the hoary
+head, and reverence the old man, and went on hastily, "But tell me,
+Will, what do you hear of the battle?"
+
+"The battle, sir! why, they say it is lost.  That's what the fellow
+there is preaching about."
+
+"And where was it?  Did you hear?  Don't you know?"
+
+"Don't be so hasty, don't ye, sir!" said the old slow-spoken man,
+growing confused.  "Where was it?  At some town--some town, they
+said, but I don't know rightly the name of it."
+
+"And the King?  Who was it?  Not Cromwell?  Had Lord Derby joined?"
+cried Walter, hurrying on his questions so as to puzzle and confuse
+the old man more and more, till at last he grew angry at getting no
+explanation, and vowed it was no use to talk to such an old fool.  At
+that moment a sound as of feet and horses came along the road.  "'Tis
+the soldiers!" said Walter.
+
+"Ay, sir, best get out of sight."
+
+Walter thought so too, and, springing over a hedge, ran off into a
+neighbouring wood, resolving to take a turn, and come back by the
+longer way to the house, so as to avoid the road.  He walked across
+the wood, looking up at the ripening nuts, and now and then springing
+up to reach one, telling himself all the time that it was untrue, and
+that the King could not, and should not be defeated.  The wood grew
+less thick after a time, and ended in low brushwood, upon an open
+common.  Just as Walter was coming to this place, he saw an unusual
+sight:  a man and a horse crossing the down.  Slowly and wearily they
+came, the horse drooping its head and stumbling in its pace, as
+though worn out with fatigue, but he saw that it was a war-horse, and
+the saddle and other equipments were such as he well remembered in
+the royal army long ago.  The rider wore buff coat, cuirass,
+gauntlets guarded with steel, sword, and pistols, and Walter's first
+impulse was to avoid him; but on giving a second glance, he changed
+his mind, for though there was neither scarf, plume, nor any badge of
+party, the long locks, the set of the hat, and the general air of the
+soldier were not those of a rebel.  He must be a cavalier, but, alas!
+far unlike the triumphant cavaliers whom Walter had hoped to receive,
+for he was covered with dust and blood, as if he had fought and
+ridden hard.  Walter sprung forward to meet him, and saw that he was
+a young man, with dark eyes and hair, looking very pale and
+exhausted, and both he and his horse seemed hardly able to stir a
+step further.
+
+"Young sir," said the stranger, "what place is this?  Am I near
+Forest Lea?"
+
+A flash of joy crossed Walter.  "Edmund! are you Edmund?" he
+exclaimed, colouring deeply, and looking up in his face with one
+quick glance, then casting down his eyes.
+
+"And you are little Walter," returned the cavalier, instantly
+dismounting, and flinging his arm around his brother; "why, what a
+fine fellow you are grown!  How are my mother and all?"
+
+"Well, quite well!" cried Walter, in a transport of joy.  "Oh! how
+happy she will be!  Come, make haste home!"
+
+"Alas!  I dare not as yet.  I must not enter the house till
+nightfall, or I should bring danger on you all.  Are there any
+troopers near?"
+
+"Yes, the village is full of the rascals.  But what has happened?  It
+is not true that--"  He could not bear to say the rest.
+
+"Too true!" said Edmund, leading his tired horse within the shelter
+of the bushes.  "It is all over with us!"
+
+"The battle lost!" said Walter, in a stifled tone; and in all the
+bitterness of the first disappointment of his youth, he turned away,
+overcome by a gush of tears and sobs, stamping as he walked up and
+down, partly with the intensity of his grief, partly with shame at
+being seen by his brother, in tears.
+
+"Had you set your heart on it so much?" said Edmund, kindly, pleased
+to see his young brother so ardent a loyalist.  "Poor fellow!  But at
+least the King was safe when I parted from him.  Come, cheer up,
+Walter, the right will be uppermost some day or other."
+
+"But, oh, that battle!  I had so longed to see old Noll get his
+deserts," said Walter, "I made so sure.  But how did it happen,
+Edmund?"
+
+"I cannot tell you all now, Walter.  You must find me some covert
+where I can be till night fall.  The rebels are hot in pursuit of all
+the fugitives.  I have ridden from Worcester by byroads day and
+night, and I am fairly spent.  I must be off to France or Holland as
+soon as may be, for my life is not safe a moment here.  Cromwell is
+bitterer than ever against all honest men, but I could not help
+coming this way, I so much longed to see my mother and all of you."
+
+"You are not wounded?" said Walter, anxiously.
+
+"Nothing to speak of, only a sword-cut on my shoulder, by which I
+have lost more blood than convenient for such a journey."
+
+"Here, I'll lead your horse; lean on me," said Walter, alarmed at the
+faint, weary voice in which his brother spoke after the first
+excitement of the recognition.  "I'll show you what Lucy and I call
+our bower, where no one ever comes but ourselves.  There you can rest
+till night."
+
+"And poor Bayard?" said Edmund.
+
+"I think I could put him into the out-house in the field next to the
+copse, hide his trappings here, and get him provender from Ewins's
+farm.  Will that do?"
+
+"Excellently.  Poor Ewins!--that is a sad story.  He fell, fighting
+bravely by my side, cut down in Sidbury Street in the last charge.
+Alas! these are evil days!"
+
+"And Diggory Stokes, our own knave?"
+
+"I know nothing of him after the first onset.  Rogues and cowards
+enough were there.  Think, Walter, of seeing his Majesty strive in
+vain to rally them, when the day might yet have been saved, and the
+traitors hung down their heads, and stood like blocks while he called
+on them rather to shoot him dead than let him live to see such a
+day!"
+
+"Oh, had I but been there, to turn them all to shame!"
+
+"There were a few, Walter; Lord Cleveland, Hamilton, Careless,
+Giffard, and a few more of us, charged down Sidbury Street, and broke
+into the ranks of the rebels, while the King had time to make off by
+S. Martin's Gate.  Oh, how I longed for a few more!  But the King was
+saved so far; Careless, Giffard, and I came up with him again, and we
+parted at nightfall.  Lord Derby's counsel was that he should seek
+shelter at Boscobel, and he was to disguise himself, and go thither
+under Giffard's guidance.  Heaven guard him, whatever becomes of us!"
+
+"Amen!" said Walter, earnestly.  "And here we are.  Here is Lucy's
+bank of turf, and my throne, and here we will wait till the sun is
+down."
+
+It was a beautiful green slope, covered with soft grass, short thyme,
+and cushion-like moss, and overshadowed by a thick, dark yew-tree,
+shut in by brushwood on all sides, and forming just such a retreat as
+children love to call their own.  Edmund threw himself down at full
+length on it, laid aside his hat, and passed his hand across his
+weary forehead.  "How quiet!" said he; "but, hark! is that the
+bubbling of water?" he added, raising himself eagerly.
+
+"Yes, here," said Walter, showing him where, a little further off on
+the same slope, a little clear spring rose in a natural basin of red
+earth, fringed along the top with fresh green mosses.
+
+"Delicious!" said the tired soldier, kneeling over the spring,
+scooping it up in his hand to drink, opening his collar, and bathing
+hands and face in the clear cool fountain, till his long black hair
+hung straight, saturated with wet.
+
+"Now, Bayard, it is your turn," and he patted the good steed as it
+sucked up the refreshing water, and Walter proceeded to release it
+from saddle and bridle.  Edmund, meanwhile, stretched himself out on
+the mossy bank, asked a few questions about his mother, Rose, and the
+other children, but was too tired to say much, and presently fell
+sound asleep, while Walter sat by watching him, grieving for the
+battle lost, but proud and important in being the guardian of his
+brother's safety, and delighting himself with the thought of bringing
+him home at night.
+
+More was happening at home than Walter guessed.  The time of his
+absence seemed very long, more especially when the twilight began to
+close in, and Lady Woodley began to fear that he might, with his
+rashness, have involved himself in some quarrel with the troopers in
+the village.  Lady Woodley and her children had closed around the
+wood fire which had been lighted on the hearth at the approach of
+evening, and Rose was trying by the bad light to continue her darning
+of stockings, when a loud hasty knocking was heard at the door, and
+all, in a general vague impression of dread, started and drew
+together.
+
+"Oh my lady!" cried Deborah, "don't bid me go to the door, I could
+not if you offered me fifty gold caroluses!  I had rather stand up to
+be a mark--"
+
+"Then I will," said Rose, advancing.
+
+"No, no, Mistress Rose," said Deborah, running forward.  "Don't I
+know what is fit for the like of you?  You go opening the door to
+rogues and vagabonds, indeed!" and with these words she undrew the
+bolts and opened the door.
+
+"Is this the way you keep us waiting?" said an impatient voice; and a
+tall youth, handsomely accoutred, advanced authoritatively into the
+room.  "Prepare to--" but as he saw himself alone with women and
+children, and his eyes fell on the pale face, mourning dress, and
+graceful air of the lady of the house, he changed his tone, removed
+his hat, and said, "Your pardon, madam, I came to ask a night's
+lodging for my father, who has been thrown from his horse, and badly
+bruised."
+
+"I cannot refuse you, sir," said Lady Woodley, who instantly
+perceived that this was an officer of the Parliamentary force, and
+was only thankful to see that he was a gentleman, and enforced with
+courtesy a request which was in effect a command.
+
+The youth turned and went out, while Lady Woodley hastily directed
+her daughters and servant.  "Deborah, set the blue chamber in order;
+Rose, take the key of the oak press, Eleanor will help you to take
+out the holland sheets.  Lucy, run down to old Margery, and bid her
+kill a couple of fowls for supper."
+
+As the girls obeyed there entered at the front door the young officer
+and a soldier, supporting between them an elderly man in the dress of
+an officer of rank.  Lady Woodley, ready of course to give her help
+to any person who had suffered an injury, came forward to set a
+chair, and at the same moment she exclaimed, in a tone of
+recognition, "Mr. Enderby!  I am grieved to see you so much hurt."
+
+"My Lady Woodley," he returned, recognising her at the same time, as
+he seated himself in the chair, "I am sorry thus to have broken in on
+your ladyship, but my son, Sylvester, would have me halt here."
+
+"This gentleman is your son, then?" and a courteous greeting passed
+between Lady Woodley and young Sylvester Enderby, after which she
+again enquired after his father's accident.
+
+"No great matter," was the reply; "a blow on the head, and a twist of
+the knee, that is all.  Thanks to a stumbling horse, wearied out with
+work, I have little mind to--the pursuit of this poor young man."
+
+"Not the King?" exclaimed Lady Woodley, breathless with alarm.
+
+It was with no apparent satisfaction that the rebel colonel replied,
+"Even so, madam.  Cromwell's fortune has not forsaken him; he has
+driven the Scots and their allies out of Worcester."
+
+Lady Woodley was too much accustomed to evil tidings to be as much
+overcome by them as her young son had been; she only turned somewhat
+paler, and asked, "The King lives?"
+
+"He was last seen on Worcester bridge.  Troops are sent to every port
+whence he might attempt an escape."
+
+"May the GOD of his father protect him," said the lady, fervently.
+"And my son?" she added, faintly, scarcely daring to ask the
+question.
+
+"Safe, I hope," replied the colonel.  "I saw him, and I could have
+thought him my dear old friend himself, as he joined Charles in his
+last desperate attempt to rally his forces, and then charged down
+Sidbury Street with a few bold spirits who were resolved to cover
+their master's retreat.  He is not among the slain; he was not a
+prisoner when I left the headquarters.  I trust he may have escaped,
+for Cromwell is fearfully incensed against your party."
+
+Colonel Enderby was interrupted by Lucy's running in calling out,
+"Mother, mother! there are no fowls but Partlet and the sitting hen,
+and the old cock, and I won't have my dear old Partlet killed to be
+eaten by wicked Roundheads."
+
+"Come here, my little lady," said the colonel, holding out his hand,
+amused by her vehemence.
+
+"I won't speak to a Roundhead," returned Lucy, with a droll air of
+petulance, pleased at being courted.
+
+Her mother spoke gravely.  "You forget yourself, Lucy.  This is Mr.
+Enderby, a friend of your dear father."
+
+Lucy's cheeks glowed, and she looked down as she gave her hand to the
+colonel; but as he spoke kindly to her, her forward spirit revived,
+and she returned to the charge.
+
+"You won't have Partlet killed?"
+
+Her mother would have silenced her, but the colonel smiled and said,
+"No, no, little lady; I would rather go without supper than let one
+feather of Dame Partlet be touched."
+
+"Nay, you need not do that either, sir," said the little chatter-box,
+confidentially, "for we are to have a pie made of little Jenny's
+pigeons; and I'll tell you what, sir, no one makes raised crust half
+so well as sister Rose."
+
+Lady Woodley was not sorry to stop the current of her little girl's
+communications by despatching her on another message, and asking
+Colonel Enderby whether he would not prefer taking a little rest in
+his room before supper-time, offering, at the same time all the
+remedies for bruises and wounds that every good housekeeper of the
+time was sure to possess.
+
+She had a real regard for Mr. Enderby, who had been a great friend of
+her husband before the unhappy divisions of the period arrayed them
+on opposite sides, and even then, though true friendship could not
+last, a kindly feeling had always existed.
+
+Mr. Enderby was a conscientious man, but those were difficult times;
+and he had regarded loyalty to the King less than what he considered
+the rights of the people.  He had been an admirer of Hampden and his
+principles, and had taken up arms on the same side, becoming a rebel
+on political, not on religious, grounds.  When, as time went on, the
+evils of the rebellion developed themselves more fully, he was
+already high in command, and so involved with his own party that he
+had not the resolution requisite for a change of course and
+renunciation of his associates.  He would willingly have come to
+terms with the King, and was earnest in the attempt at the time of
+the conferences at Hampden Court.  He strongly disapproved of the
+usurpation of power by the army, and was struck with horror, grief,
+and dismay, at the execution of King Charles; but still he would not,
+or fancied that he could not, separate himself from the cause of the
+Parliament, and continued in their service, following Cromwell to
+Scotland, and fighting at Worcester on the rebel side, disliking
+Cromwell all the time, and with a certain inclination to the young
+King, and desire to see the old constitution restored.
+
+He was just one of those men who cause such great evil by giving a
+sort of respectability to the wrong cause, "following a multitude to
+do evil," and doubtless bringing a fearful responsibility on their
+own heads; yet with many good qualities and excellent principles,
+that make those on the right side have a certain esteem for them, and
+grieve to see them thus perverted.
+
+Lady Woodley, who knew him well, though sorry to have a rebel in her
+house at such a time, was sure that in him she had a kind and
+considerate guest, who would do his utmost to protect her and her
+children.
+
+On his side, Colonel Enderby was much grieved and shocked at the
+pale, altered looks of the fair young bride he remembered, as well as
+the evidences of poverty throughout her house, and perhaps he had a
+secret wish that he was as well assured as his friend, Sir Walter,
+that his blood had been shed for the maintenance of the right.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+
+Rose Woodley ran up and down indefatigably, preparing everything for
+the accommodation of the guests, smoothing down Deborah's petulance,
+and keeping her mother from over-exertion or anxiety.  Much
+contrivance was indeed required, for besides the colonel and his son,
+two soldiers had to be lodged, and four horses, which, to the
+consternation of old Margery, seemed likely to devour the cow's
+winter store of hay, while the troopers grumbled at the desolate,
+half-ruined, empty stables, and at the want of corn.
+
+Rose had to look to everything; to provide blankets from the bed of
+the two little girls, send Eleanor to sleep with her mother, and take
+Lucy to her own room; despatch them on messages to the nearest
+cottage to borrow some eggs, and to gather vegetables in the garden,
+whilst she herself made the pigeon pie with the standing crust, much
+wishing that the soldiers were out of the way.  It was a pretty thing
+to see her in her white apron, with her neat dexterous fingers, and
+nimble quiet step, doing everything in so short a time, and so well,
+without the least bustle.
+
+She was at length in the hall, laying the white home-spun, home-
+bleached cloth, and setting the trenchers (all the Mowbray plate had
+long ago gone in the King's service), wondering anxiously, meantime,
+what could have become of Walter, with many secret and painful
+misgivings, though she had been striving to persuade her mother that
+he was only absent on some freak of his own.
+
+Presently the door which led to the garden was opened, and to her
+great joy Walter put his head into the room.
+
+"O Walter," she exclaimed, "the battle is lost! but Edmund and the
+King have both escaped."
+
+"Say you so?" said Walter, smiling.  "Here is a gentleman who can
+give you some news of Edmund."
+
+At the same moment Rose saw her beloved eldest brother enter the
+room.  It would be hard to say which was her first thought, joy or
+dismay--she had no time to ask herself.  Quick as lightning she
+darted to the door leading to the staircase, bolted it, threw the bar
+across the fastening of the front entrance, and then, flying to her
+brother, clung fast round his neck, kissed him on each cheek, and
+felt his ardent kiss on her brow, as she exclaimed in a frightened
+whisper, "You must not stay here:  there are troopers in the house!"
+
+"Troopers!--quartered on us?" cried Walter.
+
+Rose hastily explained, trembling lest anyone should attempt to
+enter.  Walter paced up and down in despair, vowing that it was a
+trick to get a spy into the house.  Edmund sat down in the large arm-
+chair with a calm resolute look, saying, "I must surrender, then.
+Neither I nor my horse can go further without rest.  I will yield as
+a prisoner of war, and well that it is to a man of honour."
+
+"Oh no, no!" cried Rose:  "he says Cromwell treats his prisoners as
+rebels.  It would be certain death!"
+
+"What news of the King?" asked Edmund, anxiously.
+
+"Not seen since the flight? but--"
+
+"And Lord Derby, Wilmot--"
+
+"I cannot tell, I heard no names," said Rose, "only that the enemy's
+cruelties are worse than ever."
+
+Walter stood with his back against the table, gazing at his brother
+and sister in mute consternation.
+
+"I know!" cried Rose, suddenly:  "the out-house in the upper field.
+No one ever goes up into the loft but ourselves.  You know, Walter,
+where Eleanor found the kittens.  Go thither, I will bring Edmund
+food at night.  Oh, consent, Edmund!"
+
+"It will do! it will do!" cried Walter.
+
+"Very well, it may spare my mother," said Edmund; and as footsteps
+and voices were heard on the stairs, the two brothers hurried off
+without another word, while Rose, trying to conceal her agitation,
+undid the door, and admitted her two little sisters, who were asking
+if they had not heard Walter's voice.
+
+She scarcely attended to them, but, bounding upstairs to her mother's
+room, flung her arms round her neck, and poured into her ear her
+precious secret.  The tremour, the joy, the fears, the tears, the
+throbbings of the heart, and earnest prayers, may well be imagined,
+crowded by the mother and daughter into those few minutes.  The plan
+was quickly arranged.  They feared to trust even Deborah; so that the
+only way that they could provide the food that Edmund so much needed
+was by Rose and Walter attempting to save all they could at supper,
+and Rose could steal out when everyone was gone to rest, and carry it
+to him.  Lady Woodley was bent on herself going to her son that
+night; but Rose prevailed on her to lay aside the intention, as it
+would have been fatal, in her weak state of health, for her to expose
+herself to the chills of an autumn night, and, what was with her a
+much more conclusive reason, Rose was much more likely to be able to
+slip out unobserved.  Rose had an opportunity of explaining all this
+to Walter, and imploring him to be cautious, before the colonel and
+his son came down, and the whole party assembled round the supper-
+table.
+
+Lady Woodley had the eggs and bacon before her; Walter insisted on
+undertaking the carving of the pigeon-pie, and looked considerably
+affronted when young Sylvester Enderby offered to take the office, as
+a more experienced carver.  Poor Rose, how her heart beat at every
+word and look, and how hard she strove to seem perfectly at her ease
+and unconscious!  Walter was in a fume of anxiety and vexation, and
+could hardly control himself so far as to speak civilly to either of
+the guests, so that he was no less a cause of fear to his mother and
+sister than the children, who were unconscious how much depended on
+discretion.
+
+Young Sylvester Enderby was a fine young man of eighteen, very good-
+natured, and not at all like a Puritan in appearance or manner.  He
+had hardly yet begun to think for himself, and was merely obeying his
+father in joining the army with him, without questioning whether it
+was the right cause or not.  He was a kind elder brother at home, and
+here he was ready to be pleased with the children of the house.
+
+Lucy was a high-spirited talkative child, very little used to seeing
+strangers, and perhaps hardly reined in enough, for her poor mother's
+weak health had interfered with strict discipline; and as this
+evening Walter and Rose were both grave and serious under their
+anxieties, Lucy was less restrained even than usual.
+
+She was a pretty creature, with bright blue eyes, and an arch
+expression, all the droller under her prim round cap; and Sylvester
+was a good deal amused with her pert bold little nods and airs.  He
+paid a good deal of attention to her, and she in return grew more
+forward and chattering.  It is what little girls will sometimes do
+under the pleasure and excitement of the notice of gentlemen, and it
+makes their friends very uneasy, since the only excuse they can have
+is in being VERY LITTLE, and it shows a most undesirable want of
+self-command and love of attention.
+
+In addition to this feeling, Lady Woodley dreaded every word that was
+spoken, lest it should lead to suspicion, for though she was sure Mr.
+Enderby would not willingly apprehend her son, yet she could not tell
+what he might consider his duty to his employers; besides, there were
+the two soldiers to observe and report, and the discovery that Edmund
+was at hand might lead to frightful consequences.  She tried to
+converse composedly with him on his family and the old neighbourhood
+where they had both lived, often interrupting herself to send a look
+or word of warning to the lower end of the table; but Lucy and
+Charles were too wild to see or heed her, and grew more and more
+unrestrained, till at last, to the dismay of her mother, brother, and
+sister, Charles' voice was heard so loud as to attract everyone's
+notice, in a shout of wonder and complaint, "Mother, mother, look!
+Rose has gobbled up a whole pigeon to her own share!"
+
+Rose could not keep herself from blushing violently, as she whispered
+reprovingly that he must not be rude.  Lucy did not mend the matter
+by saying with an impertinent nod, "Rose does not like to be found
+out."
+
+"Children," said Lady Woodley, gravely, "I shall send you away if you
+do not behave discreetly."
+
+"But, mother, Rose is greedy," said Lucy.
+
+"Hold your tongues, little mischief makers!" burst out Walter, who
+had been boiling over with anxiety and indignation the whole time.
+
+"Walter is cross now," said Lucy, pleased to have produced a
+sensation, and to have shocked Eleanor, who sat all the time as good,
+demure, and grave, as if she had been forty years old.
+
+"Pray excuse these children," said Lady Woodley, trying to hide her
+anxiety under cover of displeasure at them; "no doubt Mrs. Enderby
+keeps much better order at home.  Lucy, Charles, silence at once.
+Walter, is there no wine?"
+
+"If there is, it is too good for rebels," muttered Walter to himself,
+as he rose.  "Light me, Deborah, and I'll see."
+
+"La!  Master Walter," whispered Deborah, "you know there is nothing
+but the dregs of the old cask of Malmsey, that was drunk up at the
+old squire's burying."
+
+"Hush, hush, Deb," returned the boy; "fill it up with water, and it
+will be quite good enough for those who won't drink the King's
+health."
+
+Deborah gave a half-puzzled smile.  "Ye're a madcap, Master Walter!
+But sure, Sir, the spirit of a wolf must have possessed Mistress
+Rose--she that eats no supper at all, in general!  D'ye think it is
+wearying about Master Edmund that gives her a craving?"
+
+It might be dangerous, but Walter was so much diverted, that he could
+not help saying, "I have no doubt it is on his account."
+
+"I know," said Deborah, "that I get so faint at heart that I am
+forced to be taking something all day long to keep about at all!"
+
+By this time they were re-entering the hall, when there was a sound
+from the kitchen as of someone calling.  Deborah instantly turned,
+screaming out joyfully, "Bless me! is it you?" and though out of
+sight, her voice was still heard in its high notes of joy.  "You
+good-for-nothing rogue! are you turned up again like a bad tester,
+staring into the kitchen like a great oaf, as you be?"
+
+There was a general laugh, and Eleanor said, "That must be Diggory."
+
+"A poor country clown," said Lady Woodley, "whom we sent to join my
+son's troop.  I hope he is in no danger."
+
+"Oh no," said Mr. Enderby; "he has only to return to his plough."
+
+"Hollo there!" shouted Walter.  "Come in, Diggory, and show
+yourself."
+
+In came Diggory, an awkward thick-set fellow, with a shock head of
+hair, high leathern gaiters, and a buff belt over his rough leathern
+jerkin.  There he stood, pulling his forelock, and looking sheepish.
+
+"Come in, Diggory," said his mistress; "I am glad to see you safe.
+You need not be afraid of these gentlemen.  Where are the rest?"
+
+"Slain, every man of them, an't please your ladyship."
+
+"And your master, Mr. Woodley?"
+
+"Down, too, an't please your ladyship."
+
+Lucy screamed aloud; Eleanor ran to her mother, and hid her face in
+her lap; Charles sat staring, with great round frightened eyes.  Very
+distressing it was to be obliged to leave the poor children in such
+grief and alarm, when it was plain all the time that Diggory was an
+arrant coward, who had fancied more deaths and dangers than were
+real, and was describing more than he had even thought he beheld, in
+order to make himself into a hero instead of a runaway.  Moreover,
+Lady Woodley and Rose had to put on a show of grief, lest they should
+betray that they were better informed; and they were in agonies lest
+Walter's fury at the falsehoods should be as apparent to their guests
+as it was to themselves.
+
+"Are you sure of what you say, Diggory?" said Lady Woodley.
+
+"Sure as that I stand here, my lady.  There was sword and shot and
+smoke all round.  I stood it all till Farmer Ewins was cut down a-
+one-side of me, ma'am, and Master Edmund, more's the pity, with his
+brains scattered here and there on the banks of the river."
+
+There was another cry among the children, and Walter made such a
+violent gesture, that Rose, covering her face with her handkerchief,
+whispered to him, "Walter dear, take care."  Walter relieved his mind
+by returning, "Oh that I could cudgel the rogue soundly!"
+
+At the same time Colonel Enderby turned to their mother, saying,
+"Take comfort, madam, this fellow's tale carries discredit on the
+face of it.  Let me examine him, with your permission.  Where did you
+last see your master?"
+
+"I know none of your places, sir," answered Diggory, sullenly.
+
+Colonel Enderby spoke sternly and peremptorily.  "In the town, or in
+the fields?  Answer me that, sirrah.  In the field on the bank of the
+river?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+"There you left your ranks, you rogue; that was the way you lost
+sight of your master!" said the colonel.  Then, turning to Lady
+Woodley, as Diggory slunk off, "Your ladyship need not be alarmed.
+An hour after the encounter, in which he pretends to have seen your
+son slain, I saw him in full health and soundness."
+
+"A cowardly villain!" cried Walter, delighted to let out some of his
+indignation.  "I knew he was not speaking a word of truth."
+
+The children cheered up in a moment; but Lady Woodley was not sorry
+to make this agitating scene an excuse for retiring with all her
+children.  Lucy and Eleanor were quite comforted, and convinced that
+Edmund must be safe; but poor little Charlie had been so dreadfully
+frightened by the horrors of Diggory's description, that after Rose
+had put him to bed he kept on starting up in his sleep, half waking,
+and sobbing about brother Edmund's brains.
+
+Rose was obliged to go to him and soothe him.  She longed to assure
+the poor little fellow that dear Edmund was perfectly safe, well, and
+near at hand; but the secret was too important to be trusted to one
+so young, so she could only coax and comfort him, and tell him they
+all thought it was not true, and Edmund would come back again.
+
+"Sister," said Charlie, "may I say my prayers again for him?"
+
+"Yes, do, dear Charlie," said Rose; "and say a prayer for King
+Charles too, that he may be safe from the wicked man."
+
+So little Charlie knelt by Rose, with his hands joined, and his
+little bare legs folded together, and said his prayer:  and did not
+his sister's heart go with him?  Then she kissed him, covered him up
+warmly, and repeated to him in her soft voice the ninety-first Psalm:
+"Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High shall abide under
+the shadow of the Almighty."
+
+By the time it was ended, the little boy was fast asleep, and the
+faithful loyal girl felt her failing heart cheered and strengthened
+for whatever might be before her, sure that she, her mother, her
+brother, and her King, were under the shadow of the Almighty wings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+
+In a very strong fit of restlessness did little Mistress Lucy Woodley
+go to bed in Rose's room that night.  She was quite comforted on
+Edmund's account, for she had discernment enough to see that her
+mother and sister did not believe Diggory's dreadful narration; and
+she had been so unsettled and excited by Mr. Sylvester Enderby's
+notice, and by the way in which she had allowed her high spirits to
+get the better of her discretion, as well as by the sudden change
+from terror to joy, that when first she went to Rose's room she could
+not attend to her prayers, and next she could not go to sleep.
+
+Perhaps the being in a different apartment from usual, and the
+missing her accustomed sleeping companion, Eleanor, had something to
+do with it, for little Eleanor had a gravity and steadiness about her
+that was very apt to compose and quiet her in her idlest moods.  To-
+night she lay broad awake, tumbling about on the very hard mattress,
+stuffed with chaff, wondering how Rose could bear to sleep on it,
+trying to guess how there could be room for both when her sister came
+to bed, and nevertheless in a great fidget for her to come.  She
+listened to the howling and moaning of the wind, the creaking of the
+doors, and the rattling of the boards with which Rose had stopped up
+the broken panes of her lattice; she rolled from side to side,
+fancied odd shapes in the dark, and grew so restless and anxious for
+Rose's coming that she was just ready to jump out of bed and go in
+the passage to call her when Rose came into the room.
+
+"O Rose, what a time you have been!"
+
+It was no satisfaction to Rose to find the curious little chatter-box
+so wide awake at this very inconvenient time, but she did not lose
+her patience, and answered that she had been first with Charlie, and
+then with their mother.
+
+"And now I hope you are coming to bed.  I can't go to sleep without
+you."
+
+"Oh, but indeed you must, Lucy dear, for I shall not be ready this
+long time.  Look, here is a great rent in Walter's coat, which I must
+mend, or he won't be fit to be seen to-morrow."
+
+"What shall we have for dinner to-morrow, Rose?  What made you eat so
+much supper to-night?"
+
+"I'll tell you what, Lucy, I am not going to talk to you, or you will
+lie awake all night, and that will be very bad for you.  I shall put
+my candle out of your sight, and say some Psalms, but I cannot talk."
+
+So Rose began, and, wakeful as Lucy was, she found the low sweet
+tones lulled her a little.  But she did not like this; she had a
+perverse intention of staying awake till Rose got into bed, so
+instead of attending to the holy words, she pinched herself, and
+pulled herself, and kept her eyes staring open, gazing at the
+flickering shadows cast by the dim home-made rush candle.
+
+She went to sleep for a moment, then started into wakefulness again;
+Rose had ceased to repeat her Psalms aloud, but was still at her
+needlework; another doze, another waking.  There was some hope of
+Rose now, for she was kneeling down to say her prayers.  Lucy thought
+they lasted very long, and at her next waking she was just in time to
+hear the latch of the door closing, and find herself left in
+darkness.  Rose was not in bed, did not answer when she called.  Oh,
+she must be gone to take Walter's coat back to his room.  But surely
+she might have done that in one moment; and how long she was staying!
+Lucy could bear it no longer, or rather she did not try to bear it,
+for she was an impetuous, self-willed child, without much control
+over herself.  She jumped out of bed, and stole to the door.  A light
+was just disappearing on the ceiling, as if someone was carrying a
+candle down stairs; what could it mean?  Lucy scampered, pit-pat,
+with her bare feet along the passage, and came to the top of the
+stairs in time to peep over and discover Rose silently opening the
+door of the hall, a large dark cloak hung over her arm, and her head
+and neck covered by her black silk hood and a thick woollen kerchief,
+as if she was going out.
+
+Lucy's curiosity knew no bounds.  She would not call, for fear she
+should be sent back to bed, but she was determined to see what her
+sister could possibly be about.  Down the cold stone steps pattered
+she, and luckily, as she thought, Rose, probably to avoid noise, had
+only shut to the door, so that the little inquisitive maiden had a
+chink to peep through, and beheld Rose at a certain oaken corner-
+cupboard, whence she took out a napkin, and in it she folded what
+Lucy recognised as the very same three-cornered segment of pie-crust,
+containing the pigeon that she had last night been accused of
+devouring.  She placed it in a basket, and then proceeded to take a
+lantern from the cupboard, put in her rushlight, and, thus prepared,
+advanced to the garden-door, softly opened it, and disappeared.
+
+Lucy, in an extremity of amazement, came forward.  The wind howled in
+moaning gusts, and the rain dashed against the windows; Lucy was
+chilly and frightened.  The fire was not out, and gave a dim light,
+and she crept towards the window, but a sudden terror came over her;
+she dashed back, looked again, heard another gust of wind, fell into
+another panic, rushed back to the stairs, and never stopped till she
+had tumbled into bed, her teeth chattering, shivering from head to
+foot with fright and cold, rolled herself up tight in the bed-
+clothes, and, after suffering excessively from terror and chill, fell
+sound asleep without seeing her sister return.
+
+Causeless fears pursue those who are not in the right path, and turn
+from what alone can give them confidence.  A sense of protection
+supports those who walk in innocence, though their way may seem
+surrounded with perils; and thus, while Lucy trembled in an agony of
+fright in her warm bed, Rose walked forth with a firm and fearless
+step through the dark gusty night, heedless of the rain that pattered
+round her, and the wild wind that snatched at her cloak and gown, and
+flapped her hood into her eyes.
+
+She was not afraid of fancied terrors, and real perils and anxieties
+were at this moment lost in the bounding of her young heart at the
+thought of seeing, touching, speaking to her brother, her dear
+Edmund.  She had been eleven years old when they last had parted, the
+morning of the battle of Naseby, and he was five years older; but
+they had always been very happy and fond companions and playfellows
+as long as she could remember, and she alone had been on anything
+like an equality with him, or missed him with a feeling of personal
+loss, that had been increased by the death of her elder sister, Mary.
+
+Quickly, and concealing her light as much as possible, she walked
+down the damp ash-strewn paths of the kitchen-garden, and came out
+into the overgrown and neglected shrubbery, or pleasance, where the
+long wet-laden shoots came beating in her face, and now and then
+seeming to hold her back, and strange rustlings were heard that would
+have frightened a maiden of a less stout and earnest heart.  Her
+anxiety was lest she should be confused by the unwonted aspect of
+things in the dark, and miss the path; and very, very long did it
+seem, while her light would only show her leaves glistening with wet.
+At last she gained a clearer space, the border of a field:  something
+dark rose before her, she knew the outline of the shed, and entered
+the lower part.  It was meant for a cart-shed, with a loft above for
+hay or straw; but the cart had been lost or broken, and there was
+only a heap of rubbish in the corner, by which the children were wont
+to climb up to inspect their kittens.  Here Rose was for a moment
+startled by a glare close to her of what looked like two fiery lamps
+in the darkness, but the next instant a long, low, growling sound
+explained it, and the tabby stripes of the cat quickly darted across
+her lantern's range of light.  She heard a slight rustling above, and
+ventured to call, in a low whisper, "Edmund."
+
+"Is that you, Walter?" and as Rose proceeded to mount the pile of
+rubbish, his pale and haggard face looked down at her.
+
+"What?  Rose herself!  I did not think you would have come on such a
+night as this.  Can you come up?  Shall I help you?"
+
+"Thank you.  Take the lantern first--take care.  There.  Now the
+basket and the cloak."  And this done, with Edmund's hand, Rose
+scrambled up into the loft.  It was only the height of the roof, and
+there was not room, even in the middle, to stand upright; the rain
+soaked through the old thatch, the floor was of rough boards, and
+there was but very little of the hay that had served as a bed for the
+kittens.
+
+"O Edmund, this is a wretched place!" exclaimed Rose, as, crouching
+by his side, one hand in his, and the other round his neck, she gazed
+around.
+
+"Better than a prison," he answered.  "I only wish I knew that others
+were in as good a one.  And you--why, Rose, how you are altered; you
+are my young lady now!  And how does my dear mother?"
+
+"Pretty well.  I could hardly prevail on her not to come here to-
+night; but it would have been too much, she is so weak, and takes
+cold so soon.  But, Edmund, how pale you are, how weary!  Have you
+slept?  I fear not, on these hard boards--your wound, too."
+
+"It hardly deserves such a dignified name as a wound," said Edmund.
+"I am more hungry than aught else; I could have slept but for hunger,
+and now"--as he spoke he was opening the basket--"I shall be lodged
+better, I fear, than a king, with that famous cloak.  What a notable
+piece of pasty!  Well done, Rose!  Are you housewife?  Store of
+candles, too.  This is noble!"
+
+"How hungry you must be!  How long is it since you have eaten?"
+
+"Grey sent his servant into a village to buy some bread and cheese;
+we divided it when we parted, and it lasted me until this morning.
+Since then I have fasted."
+
+"Dear brother, I wish I could do more for you; but till Mr. Enderby
+goes, I cannot, for the soldiers are about the kitchen, and our maid,
+Deborah, talks too much to be trustworthy, though she is thoroughly
+faithful."
+
+"This is excellent fare," said Edmund, eating with great relish.
+"And now tell me of yourselves.  My mother is feeble and unwell, you
+say?"
+
+"Never strong, but tolerably well at present."
+
+"So Walter said.  By the way, Walter is a fine spirited fellow.  I
+should like to have him with me if we take another African voyage."
+
+"He would like nothing better, poor fellow.  But what strange things
+you have seen and done since we met!  How little we thought that
+morning that it would be six years before we should sit side by side
+again!  And Prince Rupert is kind to you?"
+
+"He treats me like a son or brother:  never was man kinder," said
+Edmund, warmly.  "But the children?  I must see them before I depart.
+Little Lucy, is she as bold and pert as she was as a young child?"
+
+"Little changed," said Rose, smiling, and telling her brother the
+adventures at the dinner.
+
+As cheerfully as might be they talked till Edmund had finished his
+meal, and then Rose begged him to let her examine and bind up the
+wound.  It was a sword-cut on the right shoulder, and, though not
+very deep, had become stiff and painful from neglect, and had soaked
+his sleeve deeply with blood.  Rose's dexterous fingers applied the
+salve and linen she had brought, and she promised that at her next
+visit she would bring him some clean clothes, which was what he said
+he most wished for.  Then she arranged the large horseman's cloak,
+the hay, and his own mantle, so well as to form, he said, the most
+luxurious resting place he had seen since he left Dunbar; and rolled
+up in this he lay, his head supported on his hand, talking earnestly
+with her on the measures next to be taken for his safety, and on the
+state of the family.  He must be hidden there till the chase was a
+little slackened, and then escape, by Bosham or some other port, to
+the royal fleet, which was hovering on the coast.  Money, however--
+how was he to get a passage without it?
+
+"The Prince, at parting--heaven knows he has little enough himself--
+gave me twenty gold crowns, which he said was my share of prize-money
+for our captures," said Edmund, "but this is the last of them."
+
+"And I don't know how we can get any," said Rose.  "We never see
+money.  Our tenants, if they pay at all, pay in kind--a side of
+bacon, or a sack of corn; they are very good, poor people, and love
+our mother heartily, I do believe.  I wish I knew what was to be
+done."
+
+"Time will show," said Edmund.  "I have been in as bad a case as this
+ere now, and it is something to be near you all again.  So you like
+this place, do you?  As well as our own home?"
+
+Rose shook her head, and tears sprang into her eyes.  "Oh no, Edmund;
+I try to think it home, and the children feel it so, but it is not
+like Woodley.  Do you remember the dear old oak-tree, with the
+branches that came down so low, where you used to swing Mary and me?"
+
+"And the high branch where I used to watch for my father coming home
+from the justice-meeting.  And the meadow where the hounds killed the
+fox that had baffled them so long!  Do you hear anything of the place
+now, Rose?"
+
+"Mr. Enderby told us something," said Rose, sadly.  "You know who has
+got it, Edmund?"
+
+"Who?
+
+"That Master Priggins, who was once justices' clerk."
+
+"Ha!" cried Edmund.  "That pettifogging scrivener in my father's
+house!--in my ancestors' house!  A rogue that ought to have been
+branded a dozen years ago!  I could have stood anything but that!
+Pretty work he is making there, I suppose!  Go on, Rose."
+
+"O Edmund, you know it is but what the King himself has to bear."
+
+"Neighbour's fare! as you say," replied Edmund, with a short dry
+laugh.  "Poverty and wandering I could bear; peril is what any brave
+man naturally seeks; the acres that have been ours for centuries
+could not go in a better cause; but to hear of a rascal such as that
+in my father's place is enough to drive one mad with rage!  Come,
+what has he been doing?  How has he used the poor people?"
+
+"He turned out old Davy and Madge at once from keeping the house, but
+Mr. Enderby took them in, and gave them a cottage."
+
+"I wonder what unlucky fate possessed that Enderby to take the wrong
+side!  Well?"
+
+"He could not tell us much of the place, for he cannot endure Master
+Priggins, and Master Sylvester laughs at his Puritanical manner; but
+he says--O Edmund--that the fish-ponds are filled up--those dear old
+fish-ponds where the water-lilies used to blow, and you once pulled
+me out of the water."
+
+"Ay, ay! we shall not know it again if ever our turn comes, and we
+enjoy our own again.  But it is of no use to think about such
+matters."
+
+"No; we must be thankful that we have a home at all, and are not like
+so many, who are actually come to beggary, like poor Mrs. Forde.  You
+remember her, our old clergyman's widow.  He died on board ship, and
+she was sent for by her cousin, who promised her a home; but she had
+no money, and was forced to walk all the way, with her two little
+boys, getting a lodging at night from any loyal family who would
+shelter her for the love of heaven.  My mother wept when she saw how
+sadly she was changed; we kept her with us a week to rest her, and
+when she went she had our last gold carolus, little guessing, poor
+soul, that it was our last.  Then, when she was gone, my mother
+called us all round her, and gave thanks that she could still give us
+shelter and daily bread."
+
+"There is a Judge above!" exclaimed Edmund; "yet sometimes it is hard
+to believe, when we see such a state of things here below!"
+
+"Dr. Bathurst tells us to think it will all be right in the other
+world, even if we do have to see the evil prosper here," said Rose,
+gravely.  "The sufferings will all turn to glory, just as they did
+with our blessed King, out of sight."
+
+Edmund sat thoughtful.  "If our people abroad would but hope and
+trust and bear as you do here, Rose.  But I had best not talk of
+these things, only your patience makes me feel how deficient in it we
+are, who have not a tithe to bear of what you have at home.  Are you
+moving to go?  Must you?"
+
+"I fear so, dear brother; the light seems to be beginning to dawn,
+and if Lucy wakes and misses me--Is your shoulder comfortable?"
+
+"I was never more comfortable in my life.  My loving duty to my dear
+mother.  Farewell, you, sweet Rose."
+
+"Farewell, dear Edmund.  Perhaps Walter may manage to visit you, but
+do not reckon on it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+
+The vigils of the night had been as unwonted for Lucy as for her
+sister, and she slept soundly till Rose was already up and dressed.
+Her first reflection was on the strange sights she had seen, followed
+by a doubt whether they were real, or only a dream; but she was
+certain it was no such thing; she recollected too well the chill of
+the stone to her feet, and the sound of the blasts of wind.  She
+wondered over it, wished to make out the cause, but decided that she
+should only be scolded for peeping, and she had better keep her own
+counsel.
+
+That Lucy should keep silence when she thought she knew more than
+other people was, however, by no means to be expected; and though she
+would say not a word to her mother or Rose, of whom she was afraid,
+she was quite ready to make the most of her knowledge with Eleanor.
+
+When she came down stairs she found Walter, with his elbows on the
+table and his book before him, learning the task which his mother
+required of him every day; Eleanor had just come in with her lapfull
+of the still lingering flowers, and called her to help to make them
+up into nosegays.
+
+Lucy came and sat down by her on the floor, but paid little attention
+to the flowers, so intent was she on showing her knowledge.
+
+"Ah! you don't know what I have seen."
+
+"I dare say it is only some nonsense," said Eleanor, gravely, for she
+was rather apt to plume herself on being steadier than her elder
+sister.
+
+"It is no nonsense," said Lucy.  "I know what I know."
+
+Before Eleanor had time to answer this speech, the mystery of which
+was enhanced by a knowing little nod of the head, young Mr. Enderby
+made his appearance in the hall, with a civil good-morning to Walter,
+which the boy hardly deigned to acknowledge by a gruff reply and
+little nod, and then going on to the little girls, renewed with them
+yesterday's war of words.  "Weaving posies, little ladies?"
+
+"Not for rebels," replied Lucy, pertly.
+
+"May I not have one poor daisy?"
+
+"Not one; the daisy is a royal flower."
+
+"If I take one?"
+
+"Rebels take what they can't get fairly," said Lucy, with the
+smartness of a forward child; and Sylvester, laughing heartily,
+continued, "What would General Cromwell say to such a nest of little
+malignants?"
+
+"That is an ugly name," said Eleanor.
+
+"Quite as pretty as Roundhead."
+
+"Yes, but we don't deserve it."
+
+"Not when you make that pretty face so sour?"
+
+"Ah!" interposed Lucy, "she is sour because I won't tell her my
+secret of the pie."
+
+"Oh, what?" said Eleanor.
+
+"Now I have you!" cried Lucy, delighted.  "I know what became of the
+pigeon pie."
+
+In extreme alarm and anger, Walter turned round as he caught these
+words.  "Lucy, naughty child!" he began, in a voice of thunder; then,
+recollecting the danger of exciting further suspicion, he stammered,
+"what--what--what--are you doing here?  Go along to mother."
+
+Lucy rubbed her fingers into her eyes, and answered sharply, in a
+pettish tone, that she was doing no harm.  Eleanor, in amazement,
+asked what could be the matter.
+
+"Intolerable!" exclaimed Walter.  "So many girls always in the way?"
+
+Sylvester Enderby could not help smiling, as he asked, "Is that all
+you have to complain of?"
+
+"I could complain of something much worse," muttered Walter.  "Get
+away, Lucy?"
+
+"I won't at your bidding, sir."
+
+To Walter's great relief, Rose entered at that moment, and all was
+smooth and quiet; Lucy became silent, and the conversation was kept
+up in safe terms between Rose and the young officer.  The colonel, it
+appeared, was so much better that he intended to leave Forest Lea
+that very day; and it was not long before he came down, and presently
+afterwards Lady Woodley, looking very pale and exhausted, for her
+anxieties had kept her awake all night.
+
+After a breakfast on bread, cheese, rashers of bacon, and beer, the
+horses were brought to the door, and the colonel took his leave of
+Lady Woodley, thanking her much for her hospitality.
+
+"I wish it had been better worth accepting," said she.
+
+"I wish it had, though not for my own sake," said the colonel.  "I
+wish you would allow me to attempt something in your favour.  One
+thing, perhaps, you will deign to accept.  Every royalist house,
+especially those belonging to persons engaged at Worcester, is liable
+to be searched, and to have soldiers quartered on them, to prevent
+fugitives from being harboured there.  I will send Sylvester at once
+to obtain a protection for you, which may prevent you from being thus
+disturbed."
+
+"That will be a kindness, indeed," said Lady Woodley, hardly able to
+restrain the eagerness with which she heard the offer made, that gave
+the best hope of saving her son.  She was not certain that the
+colonel had not some suspicion of the true state of the case, and
+would not take notice, unwilling to ruin the son of his friend, and
+at the same time reluctant to fail in his duty to his employers.
+
+He soon departed; Mistress Lucy's farewell to Sylvester being thus:
+"Good-bye, Mr. Roundhead, rebel, crop-eared traitor."  At which
+Sylvester and his father turned and laughed, and their two soldiers
+looked very much astonished.
+
+Lady Woodley called Lucy at once, and spoke to her seriously on her
+forwardness and impertinence.  "I could tell you, Lucy, that it is
+not like a young lady, but I must tell you more, it is not like a
+young Christian maiden.  Do you remember the text that I gave you to
+learn a little while ago--the ornament fit for a woman?"
+
+Lucy hung her head, and with tears filling her eyes, as her mother
+prompted her continually, repeated the text in a low mumbling voice,
+half crying:  "Whose adorning, let it not be the putting on of gold,
+or the plaiting of hair, or the putting on of apparel, but let it be
+the hidden man of the heart, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
+spirit, which is in the sight of GOD of great price."
+
+"And does my little Lucy think she showed that ornament when she
+pushed herself forward to talk idle nonsense, and make herself be
+looked at and taken notice of?"
+
+Lucy put her finger in her mouth; she did not like to be scolded, as
+she called it, gentle as her mother was, and she would not open her
+mind to take in the kind reproof.
+
+Lady Woodley took the old black-covered Bible, and finding two of the
+verses in S. James about the government of the tongue, desired Lucy
+to learn them by heart before she went out of the house; and the
+little girl sat down with them in the window-seat, in a cross
+impatient mood, very unfit for learning those sacred words.  "She had
+done no harm," she thought; "she could not help it if the young
+gentleman would talk to her!"
+
+So there she sat, with the Bible in her lap, alone, for Lady Woodley
+was so harassed and unwell, in consequence of her anxieties, that
+Rose had persuaded her to go and lie down on her bed, since it would
+be better for her not to try to see Edmund till the promised
+protection had arrived, lest suspicion should be excited.  Rose was
+busy about her household affairs; Eleanor, a handy little person, was
+helping her; and Walter and Charles were gone out to gather apples
+for a pudding which she had promised them.
+
+Lucy much wished to be with them; and after a long brooding over her
+ill-temper, it began to wear out, not to be conquered, but to depart
+of itself; she thought she might as well learn her lesson and have
+done with it; so by way of getting rid of the task, not of profiting
+by the warning it conveyed, she hurried through the two verses ending
+with--"Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!"
+
+As soon as she could say them perfectly, she raced upstairs, and into
+her mother's room, gave her the book, and repeated them at her
+fastest pace.  Poor Lady Woodley was too weary and languid to exert
+herself to speak to the little girl about her unsuitable manner, or
+to try to bring the lesson home to her; she dismissed her, only
+saying, "I hope, my dear, you will remember this," and away ran Lucy,
+first to the orchard in search of her brothers, and not finding them
+there, round and round the garden and pleasance.  Edmund, in his
+hiding-place, heard the voice calling "Walter!  Charlie!" and peeping
+out, caught a glimpse of a little figure, her long frock tucked over
+her arm, and long locks of dark hair blowing out from under her
+small, round, white cap.  What a pleasure it was to him to have that
+one view of his little sister!
+
+At last, tired with her search, Lucy returned to the house, and there
+found Deborah ironing at the long table in the hall, and crooning
+away her one dismal song of "Barbara Allen's cruelty."
+
+"So you can sing again, Deb," she began, "now the Roundheads are gone
+and Diggory come back?"
+
+"Little girls should not meddle with what does not concern them,"
+answered Deborah.
+
+"You need not call me a little girl," said Lucy.  "I am almost eleven
+years old; and I know a secret, a real secret."
+
+"A secret, Mistress Lucy?  Who would tell their secrets to the like
+of you?" said Deborah, contemptuously.
+
+"No one told me; I found it out for myself!" cried Lucy, in high
+exultation.  "I know what became of the pigeon pie that we thought
+Rose ate up!"
+
+"Eh?  Mistress Lucy!" exclaimed Deborah, pausing in her ironing, full
+of curiosity.
+
+Lucy was delighted to detail the whole of what she had observed.
+
+"Well!" cried Deborah, "if ever I heard tell the like!  That slip of
+a thing out in all the blackness of the night!  I should be afraid of
+my life of the ghosts and hobgoblins.  Oh!  I had rather be set up
+for a mark for all the musketeers in the Parliament army, than set
+one foot out of doors after dark!"
+
+As Deborah spoke, Walter came into the hall.  He saw that Lucy had
+observed something, and was anxious every time she opened her lips.
+This made him rough and sharp with her, and he instantly exclaimed,
+"How now, Lucy, still gossipping?"
+
+"You are so cross, I can't speak a word for you," said Lucy,
+fretfully, walking out of the room, while Walter, in his usual
+imperious way, began to shout for Diggory and his boots.  "Diggory,
+knave!"
+
+"Anon, sir!" answered the dogged voice.
+
+"Bring them, I say, you laggard!"
+
+"Coming, sir, coming."
+
+"Coming, are you, you snail?" cried Walter, impatiently.  "Your heels
+are tardier now than they were at Worcester!"
+
+"A man can't do more nor he can do, sir," said Diggory, sullenly, as
+he plodded into the hall.
+
+"Answering again, lubber?" said Walter.  "Is this what you call
+cleaned?  You are not fit for your own shoe-blacking trade!  Get
+along with you!" and he threw the boots at Diggory in a passion.  "I
+must wear them, though, as they are, or wait all day.  Bring them to
+me again."
+
+Walter had some idle notion in his head that it was Puritanical to
+speak courteously to servants, and despising Diggory for his
+cowardice and stupidity, he was especially overbearing with him, and
+went on rating him all the time he was putting on his boots, to go
+out and try to catch some fish for the morrow's dinner, which was
+likely to be but scanty.  As soon as he was gone, Diggory, who had
+listened in sulky silence, began to utter his complaints.
+
+"Chicken-heart, moon-calf, awkward lubber, those be the best words a
+poor fellow gets.  I can tell Master Walter that these are no times
+for gentlefolks to be hectoring, especially when they haven't a penny
+to pay wages with."
+
+"You learnt that in the wars, Diggory," said Deborah, turning round,
+for, grumble as she might herself, she could not bear to have a word
+said by anyone else against her lady's family, and loved to scold her
+sweetheart, Diggory.  "Never mind Master Walter.  If he has not a
+penny in his pocket, and the very green coat to his back is cut out
+of his grandmother's farthingale, more's the pity.  How should he
+show he is a gentleman but by hectoring a bit now and then,
+'specially to such a rogue as thou, coming back when thy betters are
+lost.  That is always the way, as I found when I lost my real silver
+crown, and kept my trumpery Parliament bit."
+
+"Ah, Deb!" pleaded Diggory, "thou knowst not what danger is!  I
+thought thou wouldst never have set eyes on poor Diggory again."
+
+"Much harm would that have been," retorted Mrs. Deb, tossing her
+head.  "D'ye think I'd have broke my heart?  That I'll never do for a
+runaway."
+
+"'Twas time to run when poor Farmer Ewins was cut down, holloaing for
+quarter, and Master Edmund's brains lying strewn about on the ground,
+for all the world like a calf's."
+
+"'Tis your own brains be like a calf's," said Deborah.  "I'd bargain
+to eat all of Master Edmund's brains you ever saw."
+
+"He's as dead as a red herring."
+
+"I say he is as life-like as you or I."
+
+"I say I saw him stretched out, covered with blood, and a sword-cut
+on his head big enough to be the death of twenty men."
+
+"Didn't that colonel man, as they call him, see him alive and merry
+long after?  It's my belief that Master Edmund is not a dozen miles
+off."
+
+"Master Edmund! hey, Deb?  I'll never believe that, after what I've
+seen at Worcester."
+
+"Then pray why does Mistress Rose save a whole pigeon out of the pie,
+hide it in her lap, and steal out of the house with it at midnight?
+Either Master Edmund is in hiding, or some other poor gentleman from
+the wars, and I verily believe it is Master Edmund himself; so a fig
+for his brains or yours, and there's for you, for a false-tongued
+runaway!  Coming, mistress, coming!" and away ran Deborah at a call
+from Rose.
+
+Now Deborah was faithful to the backbone, and would have given all
+she had in the world, almost her life itself, for her lady and the
+children; she was a good and honest woman in the main, but tongue and
+temper were two things that she had never learnt to restrain, and she
+had given her love to the first person by whom it was sought, without
+consideration whether he was worthy of affection or not.  That
+Diggory was a sullen, ill-conditioned, selfish fellow, was evident to
+everyone else; but he had paid court to Deborah, and therefore the
+foolish woman had allowed herself to be taken with him, see
+perfections in him, promise to become his wife, and confide in him.
+
+When Deborah left the hall, Diggory returned to his former employment
+of chopping wood, and began to consider very intently for him.
+
+He had really believed, at the moment of his panic-terror, that he
+saw Edmund Woodley fall, and had at once taken flight, without
+attempting to afford him any assistance.  The story of the brains
+had, of course, been invented on the spur of the moment, by way of
+excusing his flight, and he was obliged to persist in the falsehood
+he had once uttered, though he was not by any means certain that it
+had been his master whom he saw killed, especially after hearing
+Colonel Enderby's testimony.  And now there came alluringly before
+him the promise of the reward offered for the discovery of the
+fugitive cavaliers, the idea of being able to rent and stock poor
+Ewins's farm, and setting up there with Deborah.  It was money easily
+come by, he thought, and he would like to be revenged on Master
+Walter, and show him that the lubber and moon-calf could do some
+harm, after all.  A relenting came across him as he thought of his
+lady and Mistress Rose, though he had no personal regard for Edmund,
+who had never lived at Forest Lea; and his stolid mind was too much
+enclosed in selfishness to admit much feeling for anyone.  Besides,
+it might not be Master Edmund; he was probably killed; it might be
+one of the lords in the battle, or even the King himself, and that
+would be worth 1,000 pounds.  Master Cantwell called them all tyrants
+and sons of Belial, and what not; and though Dr. Bathurst said
+differently, who was to know what was right?  Dr. Bathurst had had
+his day, and this was Cantwell's turn.  There was a comedown now of
+feathered hats, and point collars, and curled hair; and leathern
+jerkin should have its day.  And as for being an informer, he would
+keep his own counsel; at any rate, the reward he would have.  It was
+scarcely likely to be a hanging matter, after all; and if the
+gentleman, whoever he might be, did chance to be taken, he would get
+off scot free, no harm done to him.  "Diggory Stokes, you're a made
+man!" he finished, throwing his bill-hook from him.
+
+Ah!  Lucy, Lucy, you little thought of the harm your curiosity and
+chattering had done, as you saw Diggory stealing along the side of
+the wood, in the direction leading to Chichester!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+
+In the afternoon Lady Woodley was so much better as to be able to
+come downstairs, and all the party sat round the fire in the
+twilight.  Walter was just come in from his fishing, bringing a
+basket of fine trout; Eleanor and Charles were admiring their
+beautiful red spots, Lucy wondering what made him so late, while he
+cast a significant look at his eldest sister, showing her that he had
+been making a visit to Edmund.
+
+At that moment a loud authoritative knocking was heard at the door;
+Walter shouted to Diggory to open it, and was answered by Deborah's
+shrill scream from the kitchen, "He's not here, sir; I've not seen
+him since you threw your boots at him, sir."
+
+Another thundering knock brought Deborah to open the door; and what
+was the dismay of the mother and children as there entered six tall
+men, their buff coats, steeple-crowned hats, plain collars, and thick
+calf-skin boots, marking them as Parliamentary soldiers.  With a
+shriek of terror the little ones clung round their mother, while he
+who, by his orange scarf, was evidently the commanding officer,
+standing in the middle of the hall, with his hat on, announced, in a
+Puritanical tone, "We are here by order of his Excellency, General
+Cromwell, to search for and apprehend the body of the desperate
+malignant Edmund Woodley, last seen in arms against the Most High
+Court of Parliament.  Likewise to arrest the person of Dame Mary
+Woodley, widow, suspected of harbouring and concealing traitors:" and
+he advanced to lay his hand upon her.  Walter, in an impulse of
+passion, rushed forward, and aimed a blow at him with the butt-end of
+the fishing-rod; but it was the work of a moment to seize the boy and
+tie his hands, while his mother earnestly implored the soldier to
+have pity on him, and excuse his thoughtless haste to protect her.
+
+The officer sat down in the arm-chair, and without replying to Lady
+Woodley, ordered a soldier to bring the boy before him, and spoke
+thus:- "Hear me, son of an ungodly seed.  So merciful are the lessons
+of the light that thou contemnest, that I will even yet overlook and
+forgive the violence wherewith thou didst threaten my life, so thou
+wilt turn again, and confess where thou hast hidden the bloody-minded
+traitor."
+
+"This house harbours no traitor," answered Walter, undauntedly.
+
+"If thou art too hardened to confess," continued the officer,
+frowning, and speaking slowly and sternly, as he kept his eyes
+steadily fixed on Walter, "if thou wilt not reveal his hiding-place,
+I lead thee hence to abide the penalty of attempted murder."
+
+"I am quite ready," answered Walter, returning frown for frown, and
+not betraying how his heart throbbed.
+
+The officer signed to the soldier, who roughly dragged him aside by
+the cord that tied his hands, cutting them severely, though he
+disdained to show any sign of pain.
+
+"Young maiden," continued the rebel, turning to Rose, "what sayest
+thou?  Wilt thou see thy brother led away to death, when the breath
+of thy mouth might save him?"
+
+Poor Rose turned as pale as death, but her answer was steady:  "I
+will say nothing."
+
+"Little ones, then," said the officer, fiercely, "speak, or you shall
+taste the rod.  Do you know where your brother is?"
+
+"No--no," sobbed Lucy; and her mother added, "They know nothing,
+sir."
+
+"It is loss of time to stand parleying with women and children," said
+the officer, rising.  "Here," to one of his men, "keep the door.  Let
+none quit the chamber, and mark the children's talk.  The rest with
+me.  Where is the fellow that brought the tidings?"
+
+Diggory, who had slunk out of sight, was pushed forward by two of the
+soldiers, and at the same time there was a loud scream from Deborah.
+"Oh!  Diggory, is it you?  Oh! my Lady, my Lady, forgive me!  I meant
+no harm!  Oh! who would have thought it?"  And in an agony of
+distress, she threw her apron over her face, and, sinking on the
+bench, rocked herself to and fro, sobbing violently.
+
+In the meantime, the officer and his men, all but the sentinel, had
+left the room to search for the fugitive, leaving Lady Woodley
+sitting exhausted and terrified in her chair, the little ones
+clinging around her, Walter standing opposite, with his hands bound;
+Rose stood by him, her arm round his neck, proud of his firmness, but
+in dreadful terror for him, and in such suspense for Edmund, that her
+whole being seemed absorbed in agonised prayer.  Deborah's sobs, and
+the children's frightened weeping, were all the sounds that could be
+heard; Rose was obliged to attempt to soothe them, but her first kind
+word to Deborah produced a fresh burst of violent weeping, and then a
+loud lamentation:  "Oh! the rogue--the rogue.  If I could have dreamt
+it!"
+
+"What has she done?" exclaimed Walter, impatiently.  "Come, stop your
+crying.  What have you done, Deb?"
+
+"I thought--Oh! if I had known what was in the villain!" continued
+Deborah, "I'd sooner have bit out my tongue than have said one word
+to him about the pigeon pie."
+
+"Pigeon pie!" repeated Rose.
+
+Lucy now gave a cry, for she was, with all her faults, a truth-
+telling child.  "Mother! mother!  I told Deb about the pigeon pie!
+Oh, what have I done?  Was it for Edmund?  Is Edmund here?"
+
+And to increase the danger and perplexity, the other two children
+exclaimed together, "Is Edmund here?"
+
+"Hush, hush, my dears, be quiet; I cannot answer you now," whispered
+Lady Woodley, trying to silence them by caresses, and looking with
+terror at the rigid, stern guard, who, instead of remaining at the
+door where he had been posted, had come close up to them, and sat
+himself down at the end of the table, as if to catch every word they
+uttered.
+
+Eleanor and Charles obeyed their mother's command that they should be
+silent; Rose took Lucy on her lap, let her rest her head on her
+shoulder, and whispered to her that she should hear and tell all
+another time, but she must be quiet now, and listen.  Deborah kept
+her apron over her face, and Walter, leaning his shoulder against the
+wall, stood gazing at them all; and while he was intently watching
+for every sound that could enable him to judge whether the search was
+successful or not, at the same time his heart was beating and his
+head swimming at the threat of the rebel.  Was he to die?  To be
+taken away from that bright world, from sunshine, youth, and health,
+from his mother, and all of them, and be laid, a stiff mangled
+corpse, in some cold, dark, unregarded grave; his pulses, that beat
+so fast, all still and silent--senseless, motionless, like the birds
+he had killed?  And that was not all:  that other world!  To enter on
+what would last for ever and ever and ever, on a state which he had
+never dwelt on or realised to himself, filled him with a blank,
+shuddering awe; and next came a worse, a sickening thought:  if his
+feeling for the bliss of heaven was almost distaste, could he be fit
+for it? could he dare to hope for it?  It was his Judge Whom he was
+about to meet, and he had been impatient and weary of Bible and
+Catechism, and Dr. Bathurst's teaching; he had been inattentive and
+careless at his prayers; he had been disobedient and unruly, violent,
+and unkind!  Such a horror and agony came over the poor boy, so
+exceeding a dread of death, that he was ready at that moment to
+struggle to do anything to save himself; but there came the
+recollection that the price of his rescue must be the betrayal of
+Edmund.  He would almost have spoken at that instant; the next he
+sickened at the thought.  Never, never--he could not, would not;
+better not live at all than be a traitor!  He was too confused and
+anxious to pray, for he had not taught himself to fix his attention
+in quiet moments.  He would not speak before the rebel soldier; but
+only looked with an earnest gaze at his sister, who, as their eyes
+met, understood all it conveyed.
+
+His mother, after the first moment's fright, had reassured herself
+somewhat on his account; he was so mere a boy that it was not likely
+that Algernon Sydney, who then commanded at Chichester, would put him
+to death; a short imprisonment was the worst that was likely to
+befall him; and though that was enough to fill her with terror and
+anxiety, it could at that moment be scarcely regarded in comparison
+with her fears for her eldest son.
+
+A long time passed away, so long, that they began to hope that the
+enemies might be baffled in their search, in spite of Diggory's
+intimate knowledge of every nook and corner.  They had been once to
+the shrubbery, and had been heard tramping back to the stable, where
+they were welcome to search as long as they chose, then to the barn-
+yard, all over the house from garret to cellar.  Was it over?  Joy!
+joy!  But the feet were heard turning back to the pleasance, as
+though to recommence the search, and ten minutes after the steps came
+nearer.  The rebel officer entered the hall first, but, alas! behind
+him came, guarded by two soldiers, Edmund Woodley himself, his step
+firm, his head erect, and his hands unbound.  His mother sank back in
+her chair, and he, going straight up to her, knelt on one knee before
+her, saying, "Mother, dear mother, your blessing.  Let me see your
+face again."
+
+She threw her arms round his neck, "My son! and is it thus we meet?"
+
+"We only meet as we parted," he answered firmly and cheerfully.
+"Still sufferers in the same good cause; still, I trust, with the
+same willing hearts."
+
+"Come, sir," said the officer, "I must see you safely bestowed for
+the night."
+
+"One moment, gentlemen," entreated Lady Woodley.  "It is six years
+since I saw my son, and this may be our last meeting."  She led him
+to the light, and looked earnestly up into his face, saying, with a
+smile, which had in it much of pride and pleasure, as well as
+sadness, "How you are altered, Edmund!  See, Rose, how brown he is,
+and how much darker his hair has grown; and does not his moustache
+make him just like your father?"
+
+"And my little sisters," said Edmund.  "Ha!  Lucy, I know your little
+round face."
+
+"Oh," sobbed Lucy, "is it my fault?  Can you pardon me?  The pigeon
+pie!"
+
+"What does she mean?" asked Edmund, turning to Rose.
+
+"I saw you take it out at night, Rose," said poor Lucy.  "I told
+Deb!"
+
+"And poor Deborah," added Rose, "from the same thoughtlessness
+repeated her chatter to Diggory, who has betrayed us."
+
+"The cowardly villain," cried Walter, who had come forward to the
+group round his brother.
+
+"Hush, Walter," said Edmund.  "But what do I see?  Your hands bound?
+You a prisoner?"
+
+"Poor Walter was rash enough to attempt resistance," said his mother.
+
+"So, sir," said Edmund, turning to the rebel captain, "you attach
+great importance to the struggles of a boy of thirteen!"
+
+"A blow with the butt-end of a fishing-rod is no joke from boy or
+man," answered the officer.
+
+"When last I served in England," continued the cavalier, "Cromwell's
+Ironsides did not take notice of children with fishing-rods.  You can
+have no warrant, no order, or whatever you pretend to act by, against
+him."
+
+"Why--no, sir; but--however, the young gentleman has had a lesson,
+and I do not care if I do loose his hands.  Here, unfasten him.  But
+I cannot permit him to be at large while you are in the house."
+
+"Very well, then, perhaps you will allow him to share my chamber.  We
+have been separated for so many years, and it may be our last
+meeting."
+
+"So let it be.  Since you are pleased to be conformable, sir, I am
+willing to oblige you," answered the rebel, whose whole demeanour had
+curiously changed in the presence of one of such soldierly and
+gentleman-like bearing as Edmund, prisoner though he was.  "Now,
+madam, to your own chamber.  You will all meet to-morrow."
+
+"Good-night, mother," said Edmund.  "Sleep well; think this is but a
+dream, and only remember that your eldest son is in your own house."
+
+"Good-night, my brave boy," said Lady Woodley, as she embraced him
+ardently.  "A comfort, indeed, I have in knowing that with your
+father's face you have his steadfast, loving, unselfish heart.  We
+meet to-morrow.  GOD'S blessing be upon you, my boy."
+
+And tenderly embracing the children she left the hall, followed by a
+soldier, who was to guard her door, and allow no one to enter.
+Edmund next kissed his sisters and little Charles, affectionately
+wishing them good-night, and assuring the sobbing Lucy of his pardon.
+Rose whispered to him to say something to comfort Deborah, who
+continued to weep piteously.
+
+"Deborah," he said, "I must thank you for your long faithful service
+to my mother in her poverty and distress.  I am sure you knew not
+that you were doing me any harm."
+
+"Oh, sir," cried poor Deborah, "Oh don't speak so kind!  I had rather
+stand up to be a mark for all the musketeers in the Parliament army
+than be where I am now."
+
+Edmund did not hear half what she said, for he and Walter were
+obliged to hasten upstairs to the chamber which was to be their
+prison for the night.  Rose, at the same time, led away the children,
+poor little Charles almost asleep in the midst of the confusion.
+
+Deborah's troubles were not over yet; the captain called for supper,
+and seeing Walter's basket of fish, ordered her to prepare them at
+once for him.  Afraid to refuse, she took them down to the kitchen,
+and proceeded to her cookery, weeping and lamenting all the time.
+
+"Oh, the sweet generous-hearted young gentleman!  That I should have
+been the death of such as he, and he thanking me for my poor
+services!  'Tis little I could do, with my crooked temper, that
+plagues all I love the very best, and my long tongue!  Oh that it had
+been bitten out at the root!  I wish--I wish I was a mark for all the
+musketeers in the Parliament army this minute!  And Diggory, the
+rogue!  Oh, after having known him all my life, who would have
+thought of his turning informer?  Why was not he killed in the great
+fight?  It would have broke my heart less."
+
+And having set her fish to boil, Deborah sank on the chair, her apron
+over her head, and proceeded to rock herself backwards and forwards
+as before.  She was startled by a touch, and a lumpish voice,
+attempted to be softened into an insinuating tone.  "I say, Deb,
+don't take on."
+
+She sprung up as if an adder had stung her, and jumped away from him.
+"Ha! is it you?  Dost dare to speak to an honest girl?"
+
+"Come, come, don't be fractious, my pretty one," said Diggory, in the
+amiable tones that had once gained her heart.
+
+But now her retort was in a still sharper, more angry key.  "Your'n,
+indeed!  I'd rather stand up to be a mark for all the musketeers in
+the Parliament army, as poor Master Edmund is like to be, all along
+of you.  O Diggory Stokes," she added ruefully, "I'd not have
+believed it of you, if my own father had sworn it."
+
+"Hush, hush, Deb!" said Diggory, rather sheepishly, "they've done
+hanging the folk."
+
+"Don't be for putting me off with such trash," she returned, more
+passionately; "you've murdered him as much as if you had cut his
+throat, and pretty nigh Master Walter into the bargain; and you've
+broke my lady's heart, you, as was born on her land and fed with her
+bread.  And now you think to make up to me, do you?"
+
+"Wasn't it all along of you I did it?  For your sake?"
+
+"Well, and what would you be pleased to say next?" cried Deb, her
+voice rising in shrillness with her indignation.
+
+"Patience, Deb," said Diggory, showing a heavy leathern bag.  "No
+more toiling in this ruinous old hall, with scanty scraps, hard
+words, and no wages; but a tidy little homestead, pig, cow, and
+horse, your own.  See here, Deb," and he held up a piece of money.
+
+"Silver!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Ay, ay," said Diggory, grinning, and jingling the bag, "and there be
+plenty more where that came from."
+
+"It is the price of Master Edmund's blood."
+
+"Don't ye say that now, Deb; 'tis all for you!" he answered, thinking
+he was prevailing because she was less violent, too stupid to
+perceive the difference between her real indignation and perpetual
+scolding.
+
+"So you still have the face to tell me so!" she burst out, still more
+vehemently.  "I tell you, I'd rather serve my lady and Mistress Rose,
+if they had not a crust to give me, than roll in gold with a rogue
+like you.  Get along with you, and best get out of the county, for
+not a boy in Dorset but will cry shame on you."
+
+"But Deb, Deb," he still pleaded.
+
+"You will have it, then!"  And dealing him a hearty box on the ear,
+away ran Deborah.  Down fell bag, money, and all, and Diggory stood
+gaping and astounded for a moment, then proceeded to grope after the
+coins on his hands and knees.
+
+Suddenly a voice exclaimed, "How now, knave, stealing thy mistress's
+goods?" and a tall, grim, steeple-hatted figure, armed with a
+formidable halberd, stood over him.
+
+"Good master corporal," he began, trembling; but the soldier would
+not hear him.
+
+"Away with thee, son of iniquity or I will straightway lay mine
+halberd about thine ears.  I bethink me that I saw thee at the fight
+of Worcester, on the part of the man Charles Stuart."  Here Diggory
+judged it prudent to slink away through the back door.  "And so,"
+continued the Puritan corporal, as he swept the silver into his
+pouch, "and so the gains of iniquity fall into the hands of the
+righteous!"
+
+In the meantime Edmund and Walter had been conducted up stairs to
+Walter's bed-room, and there locked in, a sentinel standing outside
+the door.  No sooner were they there than Walter swung himself round
+with a gesture of rage and despair.  "The villains! the rogues!  To
+be betrayed by such a wretch, who has eaten our bread all his life.
+O Edmund, Edmund!"
+
+"It is a most unusual, as well as an unhappy chance," returned
+Edmund.  "Hitherto it has generally happened that servants have given
+remarkable proofs of fidelity.  Of course this fellow can have no
+attachment for me; but I should have thought my mother's gentle
+kindness must have won the love of all who came near her, both for
+herself and all belonging to her."
+
+A recollection crossed Walter:  he stood for a few moments in
+silence, then suddenly exclaimed, "The surly rascal!  I verily
+believe it was all spite at me, for--"
+
+"For--" repeated Edmund.
+
+"For rating him as he deserved," answered Walter.  "I wish I had
+given it to him more soundly, traitor as he is.  No, no, after all,"
+added he, hesitating, "perhaps if I had been civiller--"
+
+"I should guess you to be a little too prompt of tongue," said
+Edmund, smiling.
+
+"It is what my mother is always blaming me for," said Walter; "but
+really, now, Edmund, doesn't it savour of the crop-ear to be picking
+one's words to every rogue in one's way?"
+
+"Nay, Walter, you should not ask me that question, just coming from
+France.  There we hold that the best token, in our poverty, that we
+are cavaliers and gentlemen, is to be courteous to all, high and low.
+You should see our young King's frank bright courtesy; and as to the
+little King Louis, he is the very pink of civility to every old
+poissarde in the streets."
+
+Walter coloured a little, and looked confused; then repeated, as if
+consoling himself, "He is a sullen, spiteful, good-for-nothing rogue,
+whom hanging is too good for."
+
+"Don't let us spend our whole night in abusing him," said Edmund; "I
+want to make the most of you, Walter, for this our last sight of each
+other."
+
+"O, Edmund! you don't mean--they shall not--you shall escape.  Oh! is
+there no way out of this room?" cried Walter, running round it like
+one distracted, and bouncing against the wainscot, as if he would
+shake it down.
+
+"Hush! this is of no use, Walter," said his brother.  "The window is,
+I see, too high from the ground, and there is no escape."
+
+Walter stood regarding him with blank dismay.
+
+"For one thing I am thankful to them," continued Edmund; "I thought
+they might have shot me down before my mother's door, and so filled
+the place with horror for her ever after.  Now they have given me
+time for preparation, and she will grow accustomed to the thought of
+losing me."
+
+"Then you think there is no hope?  O Edmund!"
+
+"I see none.  Sydney is unlikely to spare a friend of Prince
+Rupert's."
+
+Walter squeezed his hands fast together.  "And how--how can you?
+Don't think me cowardly, Edmund, for that I will never be; never--"
+
+"Never, I am sure," repeated Edmund.
+
+"But when that base Puritan threatened me just now--perhaps it was
+foolish to believe him--I could answer him freely enough; but when I
+thought of dying, then--"
+
+"You have not stood face to face with death so often as I have,
+Walter," said Edmund; "nor have you led so wandering and weary a
+life."
+
+"I thought I could lead any sort of life rather than die," said
+Walter.
+
+"Yes, our flesh will shrink and tremble at the thought of the Judge
+we must meet," said Edmund; "but He is a gracious Judge, and He knows
+that it is rather than turn from our duty that we are exposed to
+death.  We may have a good hope, sinners as we are in His sight, that
+He will grant us His mercy, and be with us when the time comes.  But
+it is late, Walter, we ought to rest, to fit ourselves for what may
+come to-morrow."
+
+Edmund knelt in prayer, his young brother feeling meantime both
+sorrowful and humiliated, loving Edmund and admiring him heartily,
+following what he had said, grieving and rebelling at the fate
+prepared for him, and at the same time sensible of shame at having so
+far fallen short of all he had hoped to feel and to prove himself in
+the time of trial.  He had been of very little use to Edmund; his
+rash interference had only done harm, and added to his mother's
+distress; he had been nothing but a boy throughout, and instead of
+being a brave champion, he had been in such an agony of terror at an
+empty threat, that if the rebel captain had been in the room, he
+might almost, at one moment, have betrayed his brother.  Poor Walter!
+how he felt what it was never to have learnt self-control!
+
+The brothers arranged themselves for the night without undressing,
+both occupying Walter's bed.  They were both too anxious and excited
+to sleep, and Walter sat up after a time, listening more calmly to
+Edmund, who was giving him last messages for Prince Rupert and his
+other friends, should Walter ever meet them, and putting much in his
+charge, as now likely to become heir of Woodley Hall and Forest Lea,
+warning him earnestly to protect his mother and sisters, and be loyal
+to his King, avoiding all compromise with the enemies of the Church.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+
+Forest Lea that night was a house of sorrow:  the mother and two sons
+were prisoners in their separate rooms, and the anxieties for the
+future were dreadful.  Rose longed to see and help her mother,
+dreading the effect of such misery, to be borne in loneliness, by the
+weak frame, shattered by so many previous sufferings.  How was she to
+undergo all that might yet be in store for her--imprisonment, ill-
+treatment, above all, the loss of her eldest son?  For there was
+little hope for Edmund.  As a friend and follower of Prince Rupert,
+he was a marked man; and besides, Algernon Sydney, the commander of
+the nearest body of forces, was known to be a good deal under the
+influence of the present owner of Woodley, who was likely to be glad
+to see the rightful heir removed from his path.
+
+Rose perceived all this, and her heart failed her, but she had no
+time to pause on the thought.  The children must be soothed and put
+to bed, and a hard matter it was to comfort poor little Lucy, perhaps
+the most of all to be pitied.  She relieved herself by pouring out
+the whole confession to Rose, crying bitterly, while Eleanor hurried
+on distressing questions whether they would take mamma away, and what
+they would do to Edmund.  Now it came back to Lucy, "O if I had but
+minded what mamma said about keeping my tongue in order; but now it
+is too late!"
+
+Rose, after doing her best to comfort them, and listening as near to
+her mother's door as she dared, to hear if she were weeping, went to
+her own room.  It adjoined Walter's, though the doors did not open
+into the same passage; and she shut that which closed in the long
+gallery, where her room and that of her sisters were, so that the
+Roundhead sentry might not be able to look down it.
+
+As soon as she was in her own room, she threw herself on her knees,
+and prayed fervently for help and support in their dire distress.  In
+the stillness, as she knelt, she heard an interchange of voices,
+which she knew must be those of her brothers in the next room.  She
+went nearer to that side, and heard them more distinctly.  She was
+even able to distinguish when Edmund spoke, and when Walter broke
+forth in impatient exclamations.  A sudden thought struck her.  She
+might be able to join in the conversation.  There had once been a
+door between the two rooms, but it had long since been stopped up,
+and the recess of the doorway was occupied by a great oaken cupboard,
+in which were preserved all the old stores of rich farthingales of
+brocade, and velvet mantles, which had been heirlooms from one Dame
+of Mowbray to another, till poverty had caused them to be cut up and
+adapted into garments for the little Woodleys.
+
+Rose looked anxiously at the carved doors of the old wardrobe.  Had
+she the key?  She felt in her pouch.  Yes, she had not given it back
+to her mother since taking out the sheets for Mr. Enderby.  She
+unlocked the folding doors, and, pushing aside some of the piles of
+old garments, saw a narrow line of light between the boards, and
+heard the tones almost as clearly as if she was in the same room.
+
+Eager to tell Edmund how near she was, she stretched herself out,
+almost crept between the shelves, leant her head against the board on
+the opposite side, and was about to speak, when she found that it
+yielded in some degree to her touch.  A gleam of hope darted across
+her, she drew back, fetched her light, tried with her hand, and found
+that the back of the cupboard was in fact a door, secured on her side
+by a wooden bolt, which there was no difficulty in undoing.  Another
+push, and the door yielded below, but only so as to show that there
+must be another fastening above.  Rose clambered up the shelves, and
+sought.  Here it was!  It was one of the secret communications that
+were by no means uncommon in old halls in those times of insecurity.
+Edmund might yet be saved!  Trembling with the excess of her delight
+in her new-found hope, she forced out the second bolt, and pushed
+again.  The door gave way, the light widened upon her, and she saw
+into the room!  Edmund was lying on the bed, Walter sitting at his
+feet.
+
+Both started as what had seemed to be part of the wainscoted wall
+opened, but Edmund prevented Walter's exclamation by a sign to be
+silent, and the next moment Rose's face was seen squeezing between
+the shelves.
+
+"Edmund!  Can you get through here?" she exclaimed in a low eager
+whisper.
+
+Edmund was immediately by her side, kissing the flushed anxious
+forehead:  "My gallant Rose!" he said.
+
+"Oh, thank heaven! thank heaven! now you may be safe!" continued
+Rose, still in the same whisper.  "I never knew this was a door till
+this moment.  Heaven sent the discovery on purpose for your safety!
+Hush, Walter!  Oh remember the soldier outside!" as Walter was about
+to break out into tumultuous tokens of gladness.  "But can you get
+through, Edmund?  Or perhaps we might move out some of the shelves."
+
+"That is easily done," said Edmund; "but I know not.  Even if I
+should escape, it would be only to fall into the hands of some fresh
+troop of enemies, and I cannot go and leave my mother to their
+mercy."
+
+"You could do nothing to save her," said Rose, "and all that they may
+do to her would scarcely hurt her if she thought you were safe.  O
+Edmund! think of her joy in finding you were escaped! the misery of
+her anxiety now!"
+
+"Yet to leave her thus!  You had not told me half the change in her!
+I know not how to go!" said Edmund.
+
+"You must, you must!" said Rose and Walter, both at once.  And Rose
+added, "Your death would kill her, I do believe!"
+
+"Well, then; but I do not see my way even when I have squeezed
+between your shelves, my little sister.  Every port is beset, and our
+hiding places here can no longer serve me."
+
+"Listen," said Rose, "this is what my mother and I had planned
+before.  The old clergyman of this parish, Dr. Bathurst, lives in a
+little house at Bosham, with his daughter, and maintains himself by
+teaching the wealthier boys of the town.  Now, if you could ride to
+him to-night, he would be most glad to serve you, both as a cavalier,
+and for my mother's sake.  He would find some place of concealment,
+and watch for the time when you may attempt to cross the Channel."
+
+Edmund considered, and made her repeat her explanation.  "Yes, that
+might answer," he said at length; "I take you for my general, sweet
+Rose.  But how am I to find your good doctor?"
+
+"I think," said Rose, after considering a little while, "that I had
+better go with you.  I could ride behind you on your horse, if the
+rebels have not found him, and I know the town, and Dr. Bathurst's
+lodging.  I only cannot think what is to be done about Walter."
+
+"Never mind me," said Walter, "they cannot hurt me."
+
+"Not if you will be prudent, and not provoke them," said Edmund.
+
+"Oh, I know!" cried Rose; "wear my gown and hood! these men have only
+seen us by candle-light, and will never find you out if you will only
+be careful."
+
+"I wear girl's trumpery!" exclaimed Walter, in such indignation that
+Edmund smiled, saying, "If Rose's wit went with her gown, you might
+be glad of it."
+
+"She is a good girl enough," said Walter, "but as to my putting on
+her petticoat trash, that's all nonsense."
+
+"Hear me this once, dear Walter," pleaded Rose.  "If there is a
+pursuit, and they fancy you and Edmund are gone together, it will
+quite mislead them to hear only of a groom riding before a young
+lady."
+
+"There is something in that," said Walter, "but a pretty sort of lady
+I shall make!"
+
+"Then you consent?  Thank you, dear Walter.  Now, will you help me
+into your room, and I'll put two rolls of clothes to bed, that the
+captain may find his prisoners fast asleep to-morrow morning."
+
+Walter could hardly help laughing aloud with delight at the notion of
+the disappointment of the rebels.  The next thing was to consider of
+Edmund's equipment; Rose turned over her ancient hoards in vain,
+everything that was not too remarkable had been used for the needs of
+the family, and he must go in his present blood-stained buff coat,
+hoping to enter Bosham too early in the morning for gossips to be
+astir.  Then she dressed Walter in her own clothes, not without his
+making many faces of disgust, especially when she fastened his long
+curled love-locks in a knot behind, tried to train little curls over
+the sides of his face, and drew her black silk hood forward so as to
+shade it.  They were nearly of the same height and complexion, and
+Edmund pronounced that Walter made a very pretty girl, so like Rose
+that he should hardly have known them apart, which seemed to vex the
+boy more than all.
+
+There had been a sort of merriment while this was doing, but when it
+was over, and the moment came when the brother and sister must set
+off, there was lingering, sorrow, and reluctance.  Edmund felt
+severely the leaving his mother in the midst of peril, brought upon
+her for his sake, and his one brief sight of his home had made him
+cling the closer to it, and stirred up in double force the affections
+for mother, brothers, and sisters, which, though never extinct, had
+been comparatively dormant while he was engaged in stirring scenes
+abroad.  Now that he had once more seen the gentle loving countenance
+of his mother, and felt her tender, tearful caress, known that noble-
+minded Rose, and had a glimpse of those pretty little sisters, there
+was such a yearning for them through his whole being, that it seemed
+to him as if he might as well die as continue to be cast up and down
+the world far from them.
+
+Rose felt as if she was abandoning her mother by going from home at
+such a time, when perhaps she should find on her return that she had
+been carried away to prison.  She could not bear to think of being
+missed on such a morning that was likely to ensue, but she well knew
+that the greatest good she could do would be to effect the rescue of
+her brother, and she could not hesitate a moment.  She crowded charge
+after charge upon Walter, with many a message for her mother, promise
+to return as soon as possible, and entreaty for pardon for leaving
+her in such a strait; and Edmund added numerous like parting
+greetings, with counsel and entreaties that she would ask for Colonel
+Enderby's interference, which might probably avail to save her from
+further imprisonment and sequestration.
+
+"Good-bye, Walter.  In three or four years, if matters are not
+righted before that, perhaps, if you can come to me, I may find
+employment for you in Prince Rupert's fleet, or the Duke of York's
+troop."
+
+"O Edmund, thanks! that would be--"
+
+Walter had not time to finish, for Rose kissed him, left her love and
+duty to her mother with him, bade him remember he was a lady, and
+then holding Edmund by the hand, both with their shoes off, stole
+softly down the stairs in the dark.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+
+After pacing up and down Rose's room till he was tired, Walter sat
+down to rest, for Rose had especially forbidden him to lie down, lest
+he should derange his hair.  He grew very sleepy, and at last, with
+his arms crossed on the table, and his forehead resting on them, fell
+sound asleep, and did not awaken till it was broad daylight, and
+calls of "Rose!  Rose!" were heard outside the locked door.
+
+He was just going to call out that Rose was not here, when he luckily
+recollected that he was Rose, pulled his hood forward, and opened the
+door.
+
+He was instantly surrounded by the three children, who, poor little
+things, feeling extremely forlorn and desolate without their mother,
+all gathered round him, Lucy and Eleanor seizing each a hand, and
+Charles clinging to the skirts of his dress.  He by no means
+understood this; and Rose was so used to it, as to have forgotten he
+would not like it.  "How you crowd?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Mistress Rose," began Deborah, coming half way up stairs--Lucy let
+go his hand, but Charles instantly grasped it, and he felt as if he
+could not move.  "Don't be troublesome, children," said he, trying to
+shake them off; "can't you come near one without pulling off one's
+hands?"
+
+"Mistress!" continued Deborah; but as he forgot he was addressed, and
+did not immediately attend, she exclaimed, "Oh, she won't even look
+at me!  I thought she had forgiven me."
+
+"Forgiven you!" said he, starting.  "Stuff and nonsense; what's all
+this about?  You were a fool, that's all."
+
+Deborah stared at this most unwonted address on the part of her young
+lady; and Lucy, a sudden light breaking on her, smiled at Eleanor,
+and held up her finger.  Deborah proceeded with her inquiry:
+"Mistress Rose, shall I take some breakfast to my lady, and the young
+gentlemen, poor souls?"
+
+"Yes, of course," he answered.  "No, wait a bit.  Only to my mother,
+I mean, just at present."
+
+"And the soldiers," continued Deborah--"they're roaring for
+breakfast; what shall I give them?"
+
+"A halter," he had almost said, but he caught himself up in time, and
+answered, "What you can--bread, beef, beer--"
+
+"Bread! beef! beer!" almost shrieked Deborah, "when she knows the
+colonel man had the last of our beer; beef we have not seen for two
+Christmases, and bread, there's barely enough for my lady and the
+children, till we bake."
+
+"Well, whatever there is, then," said Walter, anxious to get rid of
+her.
+
+"I could fry some bacon," pursued Deborah, "only I don't know whether
+to cut the new flitch so soon; and there be some cabbages in the
+garden.  Should I fry or boil them, Mistress Rose?  The bottom is out
+of the frying-pan, and the tinker is not come this way."
+
+The tinker was too much for poor Walter's patience, and flinging away
+from her, he exclaimed, "Mercy on me, woman, you'll plague the life
+out of me!"
+
+Poor Deborah stood aghast.  "Mistress Rose! what is it? you look
+wildly, I declare, and your hood is all I don't know how.  Shall I
+set it right?"
+
+"Mind your own business, and I'll mind mine!" cried Walter.
+
+"Alack! alack!" lamented Deborah, as she hastily retreated down
+stairs, Charlie running after her.  "Mistress Rose is gone clean
+demented with trouble, and that is the worst that has befallen this
+poor house yet."
+
+"There!" said Lucy, as soon as she was gone; "I have held my tongue
+this time.  O Walter, you don't do it a bit like Rose!"
+
+"Where is Rose!" said Eleanor.  "How did you get out?"
+
+"Well!" said Walter, "it is hard that, whatever we do, women and
+babies are mixed up with it.  I must trust you since you have found
+me out, but mind, Lucy, not one word or look that can lead anyone to
+guess what I am telling you.  Edmund is safe out of this house, Rose
+is gone with him--'tis safest not to say where."
+
+"But is not she coming back?" asked Eleanor.
+
+"Oh yes, very soon--to-day, or to-morrow perhaps.  So I am Rose till
+she comes back, and little did I guess what I was undertaking!  I
+never was properly thankful till now that I was not born a woman!"
+
+"Oh don't stride along so, or they will find you out," exclaimed
+Eleanor.
+
+"And don't mince and amble, that is worse!" added Lucy.  "Oh you will
+make me laugh in spite of everything."
+
+"Pshaw!  I shall shut myself into my--her room, and see nobody!" said
+Walter; "you must keep Charlie off, Lucy, and don't let Deb drive me
+distracted.  I dare say, if necessary, I can fool it enough for the
+rebels, who never spoke to a gentlewoman in their lives."
+
+"But only tell me, how did you get out?" said Lucy.
+
+"Little Miss Curiosity must rest without knowing," said Walter,
+shutting the door in her face.
+
+"Now, don't be curious, dear Lucy," said Eleanor, taking her hand.
+"We shall know in time."
+
+"I will not, I am not," said Lucy, magnanimously.  "We will not say
+one single word, Eleanor, and I will not look as if I knew anything.
+Come down, and we will see if we can do any of Rose's work, for we
+must be very useful, you know; I wish I might tell poor Deb that
+Edmund is safe."
+
+Walter was wise in secluding himself in his disguise.  He remained
+undisturbed for some time, while Deborah's unassisted genius was
+exerted to provide the rebels with breakfast.  The first interruption
+was from Eleanor, who knocked at the door, beginning to call
+"Walter," and then hastily turning it into "Rose!"  He opened, and
+she said, with tears in her eyes, "O Walter, Walter, the wicked men
+are really going to take dear mother away to prison.  She is come
+down with her cloak and hood on, and is asking for you--Rose I mean--
+to wish good-bye.  Will you come?"
+
+"Yes," said Walter; "and Edmund--"
+
+"They were just sending up to call him," said Eleanor; "they will
+find it out in--"
+
+Eleanor's speech was cut short by a tremendous uproar in the next
+room.  "Ha!  How?  Where are they?  How now?  Escaped!" with many
+confused exclamations, and much trampling of heavy boots.  Eleanor
+stood frightened, Walter clapped his hands, cut a very unfeminine
+caper, clenched his fist, and shook it at the wall, and exclaimed in
+an exulting whisper, "Ha! ha! my fine fellows!  You may look long
+enough for him!" then ran downstairs at full speed, and entered the
+hall.  His mother, dressed for a journey, stood by the table; a
+glance of hope and joy lighting on her pale features, but her swollen
+eyelids telling of a night of tears and sleeplessness.  Lucy and
+Charles were by her side, the front door open, and the horses were
+being led up and down before it.  Walter and Eleanor hurried up to
+her, but before they had time to speak, the rebel captain dashed into
+the room, exclaiming, "Thou treacherous woman, thou shalt abye this!
+Here! mount, pursue, the nearest road to the coast.  Smite them
+rather than let them escape.  The malignant nursling of the blood-
+thirsty Palatine at large again!  Follow, and overtake, I say!"
+
+"Which way, sir?" demanded the corporal.
+
+"The nearest to the coast.  Two ride to Chichester, two to Gosport.
+Or here!  Where is that maiden, young in years, but old in wiles?
+Ah, there! come hither, maiden.  Wilt thou purchase grace for thy
+mother by telling which way the prisoners are fled?  I know thy
+wiles, and will visit them on thee and on thy father's house, unless
+thou dost somewhat to merit forgiveness."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Walter, swelling with passion.
+
+"Do not feign, maiden.  Thy heart is rejoicing that the enemies of
+the righteous are escaped."
+
+"You are not wrong there, sir," said Walter.
+
+"I tell thee," said the captain, sternly, "thy joy shall be turned to
+mourning.  Thou shalt see thy mother thrown into a dungeon, and thou
+and thy sisters shall beg your bread, unless--"
+
+Walter could not endure these empty threats, and exclaimed, "You know
+you have no power to do this.  Is this what you call manliness to use
+such threats to a poor girl in your power?  Out upon you!"
+
+"Ha!" said the rebel, considerably surprised at the young lady's
+manner of replying.  "Is it thus the malignants breed up their
+daughters, in insolence as well as deceit?"
+
+The last word made Walter entirely forget his assumed character, and
+striking at the captain with all his force, he exclaimed, "Take that,
+for giving the lie to a gentleman."
+
+"How now?" cried the rebel, seizing his arm.  Walter struggled, the
+hood fell back.  "'Tis the boy!  Ha! deceived again!  Here! search
+the house instantly, every corner.  I will not be balked a second
+time."
+
+He rushed out of the room, while Walter, rending off the hood, threw
+himself into his mother's arms, exclaiming, "O mother dear, I bore it
+as long as I could."
+
+"My dear rash boy!" said she.  "But is he safe?  No, do not say
+where.  Thanks, thanks to heaven.  Now I am ready for anything!" and
+so indeed her face proved.
+
+"All owing to Rose, mother; she will soon be back again, she--but
+I'll say no more, for fear.  He left love--duty--Rose left all sorts
+of greetings, that I will tell you by and by.  Ha! do you hear them
+lumbering about the house?  They fancy he is hid there!  Yes, you are
+welcome--"
+
+"Hush! hush, Walter! the longer they look the more time he will
+gain," whispered his mother.  "Oh this is joy indeed!"
+
+"Mamma, I found out Walter, and said not one word," interposed Lucy;
+but there was no more opportunity for converse permitted, for the
+captain returned, and ordered the whole party into the custody of a
+soldier, who was not to lose sight of any of them till the search was
+completed.
+
+After putting the whole house in disorder, and seeking in vain
+through the grounds, the captain himself, and one of his men, went
+off to scour the neighbouring country, and examine every village on
+the coast.
+
+Lady Woodley and her three younger children were in the meantime
+locked into her room, while the soldier left in charge was ordered
+not to let Walter for a moment out of his sight; and both she and
+Walter were warned that they were to be carried the next morning to
+Chichester, to answer for having aided and abetted the escape of the
+notorious traitor, Edmund Woodley.
+
+It was plain that he really meant it, but hope for Edmund made Lady
+Woodley cheerful about all she might have to undergo; and even trust
+that the poor little ones she was obliged to leave behind, might be
+safe with Rose and Deborah.  Her great fear was lest the rebels
+should search the villages before Edmund had time to escape.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+
+Cautiously stealing down stairs, Rose first, to spy where the rebels
+might be, the brother and sister reached the kitchen, where Rose
+provided Edmund with a grey cloak, once belonging to a former
+serving-man, and after a short search in an old press, brought out
+various equipments, saddle, belt, and skirt, with which her mother
+had once been wont to ride pillion-fashion.  These they carried to
+the outhouse where Edmund's horse had been hidden; and when all was
+set in order by the light of the lantern, Rose thought that her
+brother looked more like a groom and less like a cavalier than she
+had once dared to hope.  They mounted, and on they rode, across the
+downs, through narrow lanes, past farm houses, dreading that each
+yelping dog might rouse his master to report which way they were
+gone.  It was not till day had dawned, and the eastern sky was red
+with the approaching sun, that they came down the narrow lane that
+led to the little town of Bosham, a low flat place, sloping very
+gradually to the water.  Here Rose left her brother, advising him to
+keep close under the hedge, while she softly opened a little gate,
+and entered a garden, long and narrow, with carefully cultivated
+flowers and vegetables.  At the end was a low cottage; and going up
+to the door, Rose knocked gently.  The door was presently cautiously
+opened by a girl a few years older, very plainly dressed, as if busy
+in household work.  She started with surprise, then held out her
+hand, which Rose pressed affectionately, as she said, "Dear Anne,
+will you tell your father that I should be very glad to speak to
+him?"
+
+"I will call him," said Anne; "he is just rising.  What is--But I
+will not delay."
+
+"Oh no, do not, thank you, I cannot tell you now."  Rose was left by
+Anne Bathurst standing in a small cleanly-sanded kitchen, with a few
+wooden chairs neatly ranged, some trenchers and pewter dishes against
+the wall, and nothing like decoration except a beau-pot, as Anne
+would have called it, filled with flowers.  Here the good doctor and
+his daughter lived, and tried to eke out a scanty maintenance by
+teaching a little school.
+
+After what was really a very short interval, but which seemed to Rose
+a very long one, Dr. Bathurst, a thin, spare, middle-aged man, with a
+small black velvet cap over his grey hair, came down the creaking
+rough wooden stairs.  "My dear child," he asked, "in what can I help
+you?  Your mother is well, I trust."
+
+"Oh yes, sir!" said Rose; and with reliance and hope, as if she had
+been speaking to a father, she explained their distress and
+perplexity, then stood in silence while the good doctor, a slow
+thinker, considered.
+
+"First, to hide him," he said; "he may not be here, for this--the old
+parson's house--will be the very first spot they will search.  But we
+will try.  You rode, you say, Mistress Rose; where is your horse?"
+
+"Ah! there is one difficulty," said Rose, "Edmund is holding him now;
+but where shall we leave him?"
+
+"Let us come first to see the young gentleman," said Dr. Bathurst;
+and they walked together to the lane where Edmund was waiting, the
+doctor explaining by the way that he placed his chief dependence on
+Harry Fletcher, a fisherman, thoroughly brave, trustworthy, and
+loyal, who had at one time been a sailor, and had seen, and been
+spoken to by King Charles himself.  He lived in a little lonely hut
+about half a mile distant; he was unmarried, and would have been
+quite alone, but that he had taken a young nephew, whose father had
+been killed on the Royalist side, to live with him, and to be brought
+up to his fishing business.
+
+Edmund and Rose both agreed that there could be no better hope of
+escape than in trusting to this good man; and as no time was to be
+lost, they parted for the present, Rose returning to the cottage to
+spend the day with Anne Bathurst, and the clergyman walking with the
+young cavalier to the place where the fisherman lived.  They led the
+horse with them for some distance, then tied him to a gate, a little
+out of sight, and went on to the hut, which stood, built of the
+shingle of the beach, just beyond the highest reach of the tide, with
+the boat beside it, and the nets spread out to dry.
+
+Before there was time to knock, the door was opened by Harry Fletcher
+himself, his open sunburnt face showing honesty and good faith in
+every feature.  He put his hand respectfully to his woollen cap, and
+said, with a sort of smile, as he looked at Edmund, "I see what work
+you have for me, your reverence."
+
+"You are right, Harry," said Dr. Bathurst; "this is one of the
+gentlemen that fought for his Majesty at Worcester, and if we cannot
+get him safe out of the country, with heaven's blessing, he is as
+good as a dead man."
+
+"Come in, sir," said Fletcher, "you had best not be seen.  There's no
+one here but little Dick, and I'll answer for him."
+
+They came in, and Dr. Bathurst explained Edmund's circumstances.  The
+honest fellow looked a little perplexed, but after a moment said,
+"Well, I'll do what in me lies, sir; but 'tis a long way across."
+
+"I should tell you, my good man," said Edmund, "that I have nothing
+to repay you with for all the trouble and danger to which you may be
+exposing yourself on my behalf.  Nothing but my horse, which would
+only be bringing suspicion on you."
+
+"As to that, your honour," replied Harry, "I'd never think of waiting
+for pay in a matter of life and death.  I am glad if I can help off a
+gentleman that has been on the King's side."
+
+So the plan was arranged.  Edmund was to be disguised in the
+fisherman's clothes, spend the day at his hut, and at night, if the
+weather served, Fletcher would row him out to sea, assisted by the
+little boy, in hopes of falling in with a French vessel; or, if not,
+they must pull across to Havre or Dieppe.  The doctor promised to
+bring Rose at ten o'clock to meet him on the beach and bid him
+farewell.  As to the horse, Fletcher sent the little boy to turn it
+out on the neighbouring down, and hide the saddle.
+
+All this arranged, Dr. Bathurst returned to his school; and Rose,
+dressed in Anne's plainest clothes, rested on her bed as long as her
+anxiety would allow her, then came down and helped in her household
+work.  It was well that Rose was thus employed, for in the afternoon
+they had a great fright.  Two soldiers came knocking violently at the
+door, exhibiting an order to search for the escaped prisoner.  Rose
+recognised two of the party who had been at Forest Lea; but happily
+they had not seen enough of her to know her in the coarse blue stuff
+petticoat that she now wore.  One of them asked who she was, and Anne
+readily replied, "Oh, a friend who is helping me;" after which they
+paid her no further attention.
+
+Her anxiety for Edmund was of course at its height during this
+search, and it was not till the evening that she could gain any
+intelligence.  Edmund's danger had indeed been great.  Harry Fletcher
+saw the rebels coming in time to prepare.  He advised his guest not
+to remain in the house, as if he wished to avoid observation, but to
+come out, as if afraid of nothing.  His cavalier dress had been
+carefully destroyed or concealed; he wore the fisherman's rough
+clothes, and had even sacrificed his long dark hair, covering his
+head with one of Harry's red woollen caps.  He was altogether so
+different in appearance from what he had been yesterday, that he
+ventured forward, and leant whistling against the side of the boat,
+while Harry parleyed with the soldiers.  Perhaps they suspected Harry
+a little, for they insisted on searching his hut, and as they were
+coming out, one of them began to tell him of the penalties that
+fishermen would incur by favouring the escape of the Royalists.
+Harry did not lose countenance, but went on hammering at his boat as
+if he cared not at all, till observing that one of the soldiers was
+looking hard at Edmund, he called out, "I say, Ned, what's the use of
+loitering there, listening to what's no concern of yours?  Fetch the
+oar out of yon shed.  I never lit on such a lazy comrade in my life."
+
+This seemed to turn away all suspicion, the soldiers left them, and
+no further mischance occurred.  At night, just as the young moon was
+setting, the boat was brought out, and Harry, with little Dick and a
+comrade whom he engaged could be trusted, prepared their oars.  At
+the same time, Dr. Bathurst and Rose came silently to meet them along
+the shingly beach.  Rose hardly knew her brother in his fisherman's
+garb.  The time was short, and their hearts were too full for many
+words, as that little party stood together in the light of the
+crescent moon, the sea sounding with a low constant ripple, spread
+out in the grey hazy blue distance, and here and there the crests of
+the nearer waves swelling up and catching the moonlight.
+
+Edmund and his sister held their hands tightly clasped, loving each
+other, if possible, better than ever.  He now and then repeated some
+loving greeting which she was to bear home; and she tried to restrain
+her tears, at the separation she was forced to rejoice in, a parting
+which gave no augury of meeting again, the renewal of an exile from
+which there was no present hope of return.  Harry looked at Dr.
+Bathurst to intimate it was time to be gone.  The clergyman came
+close to the brother and sister, and instead of speaking his own
+words, used these:-
+
+"Turn our captivity, O LORD, as the rivers in the south."
+
+"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."
+
+"He that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good seed,
+shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him."
+
+"Amen," answered Edmund and Rose; and they loosened their hold of
+each other with hearts less sore.  Then Edmund bared his head, and
+knelt down, and the good clergyman called down a blessing from heaven
+on him; Harry, the faithful man who was going to risk himself for
+him, did the same, and received the same blessing.  There were no
+more words, the boat pushed off, and the splash of the oars resounded
+regularly.
+
+Rose's tears came thick, fast, blinding, and she sat down on a block
+of wood and wept long and bitterly; then she rose up, and in answer
+to Dr. Bathurst's cheering words, she said, "Yes, I do thank GOD with
+all my heart!"
+
+That night Rose slept at Dr. Bathurst's, and early in the morning was
+rejoiced by the tidings which Harry Fletcher sent little Dick to
+carry to the cottage.  The voyage had been prosperous, they had
+fallen in with a French vessel, and Mr. Edmund Woodley had been
+safely received on board.
+
+She was very anxious to return home; and as it was Saturday, and
+therefore a holiday at the school, Dr. Bathurst undertook to go with
+her and spend the Sunday at Forest Lea.  One of the farmers of Bosham
+helped them some little way with his harvest cart, but the rest of
+the journey had to be performed on foot.  It was not till noon that
+they came out upon the high road between Chichester and Forest Lea;
+and they had not been upon it more than ten minutes, before the sound
+of horses' tread was heard, as if coming from Chichester.  Looking
+round, they saw a gentleman riding fast, followed by a soldier also
+on horseback.  There was something in his air that Rose recognised,
+and as he came nearer she perceived it was Sylvester Enderby.  He was
+much amazed, when, at the same moment, he perceived it was Mistress
+Rose Woodley, and stopping his horse, and taking off his hat, with
+great respect both towards her and the clergyman, he hoped all the
+family were well in health.
+
+"Yes, yes, I believe so, thank you," replied Rose, looking anxiously
+at him.
+
+"I am on my way to Forest Lea," he said.  "I bring the order my
+father hoped to obtain from General Cromwell."
+
+"The Protection!  Oh, thanks! ten thousand thanks!" cried Rose.  "Oh!
+it may save--But hasten on, pray hasten on, sir.  The soldiers are
+already at home; I feared she might be already a prisoner at
+Chichester.  Pray go on and restrain them by your authority.  Don't
+ask me to explain--you will understand all when you are there."
+
+She prevailed on him to go on, while she, with Dr. Bathurst, more
+slowly proceeded up the chalky road which led to the summit of the
+green hill or down, covered with short grass, which commanded a view
+of all the country round, and whence they would turn off upon the
+down leading to Forest Lea.  Just as they came to the top, Rose cast
+an anxious glance in the direction of her home, and gave a little
+cry.  Sylvester Enderby and his attendant could be seen speeding down
+the green slope of the hill; but at some distance further on, was a
+little troop of horsemen, coming from the direction of Forest Lea,
+the sun now and then flashing on a steel cap or on the point of a
+pike.  Fast rode on Sylvester, nearer and nearer came the troop; Rose
+almost fancied she could discern on one of the horses something
+muffled in black that could be no other than her mother.  How she
+longed for wings to fly to meet her and cheer her heart with the
+assurance of Edmund's safety!  How she longed to be on Sylvester's
+horse, as she saw the distance between him and the party fast
+diminishing!  At length he was close to it, he had mingled with it;
+and at the same time Dr. Bathurst and Rose had to mount a slightly
+rising ground, which for a time entirely obscured their view.  When
+at length they had reached the summit of this eminence, the party
+were standing still, as if in parley; there was presently a movement,
+a parting, Rose clasped her hands in earnestness.  The main body
+continued their course to Chichester, a few remained stationary.  How
+many?  One, two, three--yes, four, or was it five? and among them the
+black figure she had watched so anxiously!  "She is safe, she is
+safe!" cried Rose.  "Oh, GOD has been so very good to us, I wish I
+could thank Him enough!"
+
+Leaving the smoother slope to avoid encountering the baffled rebels,
+Dr. Bathurst and Rose descended the steep, the good man exerting
+himself that her eagerness might not be disappointed.  Down they
+went, sliding on the slippery green banks, helping themselves with
+the doctor's trusty staff, taking a short run at the lowest and
+steepest part of each, creeping down the rude steps, or rather foot-
+holes, cut out by the shepherd-boys in the more perpendicular
+descents, and fairly sliding or running down the shorter ones.  They
+saw their friends waiting for them; and a lesser figure than the rest
+hastened towards them, scaling the steep slopes with a good will,
+precipitancy, and wild hurrahs of exultation, that would not let them
+doubt it was Walter, before they could see his form distinctly, or
+hear his words.  Rose ran headlong down the last green slope, and was
+saved from falling by fairly rushing into his arms.
+
+"Is he safe?  I need not ask!" exclaimed Walter.
+
+"Safe! in a French vessel.  And mother?"
+
+"Safe! well! happy!  You saw, you heard!  Hurrah!  The crop-ears are
+sent to the right about; the captain has done mother and me the
+favour to forgive us, as a Christian, all that has passed, he says.
+We are all going home again as fast as we can, young Enderby and all,
+to chase out the two rogues that are quartered on us to afflict poor
+Deb and the little ones."
+
+By this time Dr. Bathurst had descended, more cautiously, and Walter
+went to greet him, and repeat his news.  Together they proceeded to
+meet the rest; and who can tell the tearful happiness when Rose and
+her mother were once more pressed in each other's arms!
+
+"My noble girl! under Providence you have saved him!" whispered Lady
+Woodley.
+
+The next evening, in secrecy, with the shutters shut, and the light
+screened, the true pastor of Forest Lea gathered the faithful ones of
+his flock for a service in the old hall.  There knelt many a humble,
+loyal, trustful peasant; there was the widowed Dame Ewins, trying to
+be comforted, as they told her she ought; there was the lady herself,
+at once sorrowful and yet earnestly thankful; there was Sylvester
+Enderby, hearing and following the prayers he had been used to in his
+early childhood, with a growing feeling that here lay the right and
+the truth; there was Deborah, weeping, grieving over her own fault,
+and almost heart-broken at the failure of him on whom she had set her
+warm affections, yet perhaps in a way made wiser, and taught to trust
+no longer to a broken reed, but to look for better things; there were
+Walter and Lucy, both humbled and subdued, repenting in earnest of
+the misbehaviour each of them had been guilty of.  Walter did not
+show his contrition much in manner, but it was real, and he proved it
+by many a struggle with his self-willed overbearing temper.  It was a
+real resolution that he took now, and in a spirit of humility, which
+made him glad to pray that what was past might be forgiven, and that
+he might be helped for the future.  That was the first time Walter
+had ever kept up his attention through the whole service, but it all
+came home to him now.
+
+Each of that little congregation had their own sorrow of heart, their
+own prayer and thanksgiving, to pour out in secret; but all could
+join in one thank-offering for the safety of the heir of that house;
+all joined in one prayer for the rescue of their hunted King, and for
+the restoration of their oppressed and afflicted Church.
+
+* * *
+
+Nine years had passed away, and Forest Lea still stood among the
+stumps of its cut-down trees; but one fair long day in early June
+there was much that was changed in its aspect.  The park was
+carefully mown and swept; the shrubs were trained back; the broken
+windows were repaired; and within the hall the appearance of
+everything was still more strikingly cheerful, as the setting sun
+looked smilingly in at the western window.  Green boughs filled the
+hearth, and were suspended round the walls; fresh branches of young
+oak leaves, tasselled with the pale green catkins; the helmets and
+gauntlets hanging on the wall were each adorned with a spray, and
+polished to the brightest; the chairs and benches were ranged round
+the long table, covered with a spotless cloth, and bearing in the
+middle a large bowl filled with oak boughs, roses, lilac, honey-
+suckle, and all the pride of the garden.
+
+At the head of the table sat, less pale, and her face beaming with
+deep, quiet, heartfelt joy, Lady Woodley herself; and near her were
+Dr. Bathurst and his happy daughter, who in a few days more were to
+resume their abode in his own parsonage.  Opposite to her was a dark
+soldierly sun-burnt man, on whose countenance toil, weather, and
+privation had set their traces, but whose every tone and smile told
+of the ecstasy of being once more at home.
+
+Merry faces were at each side of the table; Walter, grown up into a
+tall noble-looking youth of two-and-twenty, particularly courteous
+and gracious in demeanour, and most affectionate to his mother;
+Charles, a gentle sedate boy of fifteen, so much given to books and
+gravity, that his sisters called him their little scholar; Rose, with
+the same sweet thoughtful face, active step, and helpful hand, that
+she had always possessed, but very pale, and more pensive and grave
+than became a time of rejoicing, as if the cares and toils of her
+youth had taken away her light heart, and had given her a soft
+subdued melancholy that was always the same.  She was cheerful when
+others were cast down and overwhelmed; but when they were gay, she,
+though not sorrowful, seemed almost grave, in spite of her sweet
+smiles and ready sympathy.  Yet Rose was very happy, no less happy
+than Eleanor, with her fair, lovely, laughing face, or -
+
+"But where is Lucy?" Edmund asked, as he saw her chair vacant.
+
+"Lucy?" said Rose; "she will come in a moment.  She is going to bring
+in the dish you especially ordered, and which Deborah wonders at."
+
+"Good, faithful Deborah!" said Edmund.  "Did she never find a second
+love?"
+
+"Oh no, never," said Eleanor.  "She says she has seen enough of men
+in her time."
+
+"She is grown sharper than ever," said Walter, "now she is Mistress
+Housekeeper Deborah; I shall pity the poor maidens under her."
+
+"She will always be kind in the main," rejoined Rose.
+
+"And did you ever hear what became of that precious sweetheart of
+hers?" asked Edmund.
+
+"Hanged for sheep stealing," replied Walter, "according to the report
+of Sylvester Enderby.  But hush, for enter--"
+
+There entered Lucy, smiling and blushing, her dark hair decorated
+with the spray of oak, and her hands supporting a great pewter dish,
+in which stood a noble pie, of pale-brown, well-baked crust,
+garnished with many a pair of little claws, showing what were the
+contents.  She set it down in the middle of the table, just opposite
+to Walter.  The grace was said, the supper began, and great was the
+merriment when Walter, raising a whole pigeon on his fork, begged to
+know if Rose had appetite enough for it, and if she still possessed
+the spirit of a wolf.  "And," said he, as they finished, "now Rose
+will never gainsay me more when I sing -
+
+
+"For forty years our Royal throne
+Has been his father's and his own,
+Nor is there anyone but he
+With right can there a sharer be.
+For who better may
+The right sceptre sway,
+Than he whose right it is to reign?
+Then look for no peace,
+For the war will never cease
+Till the King enjoys his own again.
+
+"Then far upon the distant hill
+My hope has cast her anchor still,
+Until I saw the peaceful dove
+Bring home the branch I dearly love.
+And there did I wait
+Till the waters abate
+That did surround my swimming brain;
+For rejoice could never I
+Till I heard the joyful cry
+That the King enjoys his own again!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pigeon Pie, by Charlotte M. Yonge
+
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