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diff --git a/old/pigpi10.txt b/old/pigpi10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0f856c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pigpi10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3400 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Pigeon Pie, by Charlotte M. Yonge +#4 in our series by Charlotte M. Yonge + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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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 + diff --git a/old/pigpi10.zip b/old/pigpi10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbdb3ec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pigpi10.zip |