CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. THE DRURY FAMILY
CHAPTER II. HARRY'S ANNOUNCEMENT
CHAPTER III. TRAITOR OR HERO
CHAPTER IV. CROMWELL'S IRONSIDES
CHAPTER V. MAUD HARCOURT
CHAPTER VI. THE HAYSLOPE
CHAPTER VII. THE REVEL
CHAPTER VIII. BESSIE'S DISTRESS
CHAPTER IX. THE WOUNDED MESSENGER
CHAPTER X. "ON, CAVALIER, ON!"
CHAPTER XI. MYSTERIES
CHAPTER XII. HARRY'S RETURN
CHAPTER I.
THE DRURY FAMILY.
It was a sweet spring day, soft and balmy as summer, and any one looking
across the green meadows and smiling uplands of Hayslope, now so full of
the promise of early fruitfulness, would have wondered what could make
the farm-labourers appear so gloomy, and the women-folk sigh instead of
singing at their work, if he knew nothing of what was going on a few
miles away.
It was the year 1644, and for two long years civil war had been raging
in England, and now two rival Parliaments were sitting, the one presided
over by the King meeting at Oxford, while that in London was engaged
upon the trial of Archbishop Laud, and levying war against the King, so
that it was not to be wondered at that men looked gloomy and sorrowful,
for they were dark, sad times for everybody.
Hayslope was a little village on the borders of Essex, but quite out of
the high road usually taken by travellers going from London northward,
so that when a young man came riding in towards the middle of the day,
everybody turned from their work to look at him. They did not make a
very close inspection before they raised their hats and cheered; but
this greeting, pleasant as it was, scarcely brought a smile to his lips
as he rode on up to the principal house in the place--Hayslope Grange.
This was a large, rambling, roomy building, half farm-house, half
mansion, standing in the midst of an old-fashioned garden, surrounded by
fields, and enclosed with a moat. The moat was dry now, and had been for
some years, and a permanent bridge of planks had been laid across,
leading to the village; Master Drury would not have it filled up. "It
might be useful yet," he would say, when his son Harry pressed him to
make the alteration.
