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called all the circumstances attending his expulsion from a house so long his home. It seemed to him that, like the champions of romance of whom he had sometimes read, he himself was retiring from the post which it was his duty to guard, defeated by a Paynim knight, for whom the adventure had been reserved by fate. Alice had her own painful subjects of recollection, nor had the tenor of her last conversation with her father been so pleasant as to make her anx

cident already noticed. “It is strange,” he said, “that Bevis

in this man a stranger, whom he thought himself obliged to w

of dumb animals, which teaches them to fly from misfortune. The very deer there will butt a sick or wounded buck from the herd; hurt a dog, and the whole kennel wil

but the dog leaves his own race to attach himself to ours; forsakes, for his master, the company, food, and pleasure of his own kind;

serted the King, whom he had always attended upon, and attached himself to Henry, whom he then saw for the first time. Richard foretold, from the desertion of his favourite, his approaching deposition. The dog

eaves, a bouncing or galloping sound on the path,

ich is wellnigh endangered by this absence.” But the dog only paid her courtesy by

the burden which she bore, that she joined her master and young mistress just as they arrived at the keeper’s hut, which was the boundary of their journey. Bevis, who had shot a-head to pay his compl

uire, of the Parliament side of the question, took advantage of Sir Henry Lee’s absence, who was then in Charles’s camp, and of the decay of the royal cause, and had, without scruple, carried off the hewn stones, and such building materials as the fire left unconsumed, and repaired his own manor-house with them. The yeoman-keeper, therefore, our friend Joceline, had constructed, for his own accommodation, and tha

r it was at present fastened. Conceiving that this was some precaution of Joliffe’s old housekeeper, of whose deafness they were all aware, Sir Henry raised his voice to demand admittance, but in vain. Irritated at this delay, he pressed the door at once with foot and hand, in a w

seizing the stranger by the collar, “but I am still Ranger o

le in which his face was muffled, an

“who came hither for your sake, although he fea

recollected that he had a part of dignity to perform. He stood erect,

pon the very first night that, for many years which have pass

though she was silent, kept her looks fixed on her father’s face, as if desirous to know whether his m

ter, and proceeded —“I need not, I presume, inform Mr. Markham Everard, that it can

ning, and feared to intrude upon you. But if you would permit me, my dearest uncle, to escort my kinswoman and you back to the Lodge

row neither. I meant but to intimate to you in all courtesy, that at Woodstock Lodge you will find those for whom you are fitting society, and who

n, turning to Alice, “tell me how I am

er father, compelled herself to answer, though it was with

imed Everard, in surprise —“the

e, an Inns-of-Court-man — marry, sir, your enjoyment of your profession is like that lease which a prodigal wishes to have of a wealthy widow. You have already survived the law which you studied, and its expiry doubtless has n

said Everard, submissively. “I have but in this evil time

ne eye upon you, as Hamlet says. Never yet did Puritan cheat so gross

Henry Lee, you have ever been thought noble — Say of me what you will, but speak not of my father what the ear of a son sho

spoken truth in that, Mark, wert thou the blackest Purita

to storm — let me but conduct you to the Lodge, and expel those intruders, who can, as yet at least, have no warrant for what they do. I

ed rebel to his religion and to his king — a rebel more detestable on account of his success, the more infamous through the plundered wealth with which he hopes to gild his villany. — But I am poor, thou think’st, and should hold my peace, lest men say, ‘Speak, sirrah, when you should.’— Know, however, that, indigent and plundered as I am, I feel myself dishonoured in holding even but this much talk with the tool of usurping rebels. —

and to retire, since her father commanded his absence in a manner so peremptory. Unhappily, she was observed by Sir Henry, who, concluding that what he saw was evidence of a private understanding betwixt the cousins, his wrath acquired new f

t on thee, and be thy bow-bearer. — Only, for her mother’s sake, let there pass some slight form of marriage between you — Ye need no license or priest in these happy days, but may be buckled like beggars in a ditch, with a hedge for a chur

her! and do you, Markham, begone, in God’s name, and lea

could never brook that falsehood should approach me — I would no more bear by my side a disho

esced in your prohibition of all suit and intercourse. God knoweth what I suffered — but I acquiesced. Neither is it to renew my suit that I now come hither, and have, I do acknowledge, sought speech of her — not for her own sake

Sir Henry Lee; “or perhaps you thin

of what concerns your own daughter’s honour? — Hold up your head, fair Alice, and tell your father he has forgotten nature in his fantastic spirit of loyalty. — Know, Sir Henry, that though I would p

g rabbi, and he who takes all that comes to net, will teach thee it is sinni

er’s wild wish to cast thee from him in a moment of unworthy suspicion, it would be that while indulging in such sentiments, Sir Henry Lee is tyrannically oppressing the cre

civil war sets relations, as well as fellow-citizens, in opposition to each other. —“Oh, begone, I conjure you, begone! Nothing stands b

ant, like Goneril and Regan! But I tell thee, no man shall leave my house — and, humble as it is, this is now my house — while he has augh

efore to speak in anger, or officiously. You have taxed me with much, and, were I guided by the wild spirit of romantic chivalry, much which, even from so near a

should not challenge a patient hearing — ay, though your pleading were two parts d

they are no less sincere than your own, and thus far purer — excuse the word — that they are unmingled with the blood-thirsty dictates of a barbarous age, which you and others have called the code of chivalrous honour. Not my own natural disposition, but the better doctrine which my creed has taught, enables me to bear your harsh revilings without answering in a similar tone of wrath and reproach. You may carry insult to extremity against me at your pleasure — not on account of our relationship alone, but because I am bound in charity to endure it. This, S

ed Sir Henry Lee. He turned and left the hut so soon as he had uttered these last words; and, as if ashamed of the tenderness which had mingled with his accents, the yo

the near alliance and relationship of the parties, some fatal deed had not closed an interview so perilous and so angry. Phoebe Mayflower blubbered heartily for company, though she understood but little of what had passed; just, indeed, enough to enable her afterwards to report to some half-dozen particular friends, that her old master, Sir Henry, had been perilous angry, and almost fought with young Master Everard, because he h

nd and more than parcel deaf, knowledge was excluded by two principal entrances; and though she comprehended, by a sort of general instinct, that the

ns rather pacified than aggravated his displeasure. Although sufficiently impatient of contradiction, still evasion and subterfuge were more alien to the blunt old Ranger’s nature than manly vindication and direct opposition; and he was wont to say, that he ever loved the buck best who stood boldest at bay. He grac

hem all, in laying down his doctrines and his uses, and bethumping us with his texts and his homilies. I would worthy and learned Doctor Rochecliffe had been here, with his battery ready-mounted from the Vulgate, and the Septuagint, and what not — he would have battered the presbyterian spirit out of him with a wanion.

pose in their new habitation. But her tears fell so fast, they marred her counterfeited diligence; and it was well for her that Phoebe, th

if to make up, indirectly, for his previous harshness towards her; while he himself, like an experienced campaigner, showed, that neither the mortifications nor brawls of the day, nor the thoughts of what was to come tomorrow, could diminish his appetite for supper, which was his favourite meal. He ate up two-thirds of the capon, and, devoting the first bumper to the happy res

pt fast and deep. Alice had less quiet rest in old Goody Jellycot’s wicker couch, in the inner apartment; while the dame and Phoebe slept on a mattress, stuffed with dry