run hastily into the house, and in an instant heard the shout of “Soldiers, soldiers!” from the foot of the staircase.  The king was immediately shut up in the secret place; all the other doors were thrown open; and Whitgrave descending, met the troopers in front of his house.  They seized him as a fugitive Cavalier from Worcester; but he convinced them by the testimony of his neighbours, that for several weeks he had not quitted Moseley, and with much difficulty prevailed on them to depart without searching the house.

[Footnote 1:  Though ignorant of the quality of the stranger, the boys amused the king by calling themselves his life-guard.—­Boscobel, 78.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1651.  Sept. 9.]

That night[a] Charles proceeded to Bentley.  It took but little time to transform the woodcutter into a domestic servant, and to exchange his dress of green jump for a more decent suit of grey cloth.  He departed on horseback with his supposed mistress behind him, accompanied by her cousin, Mr. Lassells; and, after a journey of three days, reached[b] Abbotsleigh, Mr. Norton’s house, without interruption or danger.  Wilmot stopped at Sir John Winter’s, a place in the neighbourhood.  On the road, he had occasionally joined the royal party, as it were by accident; more generally he preceded or followed them at a short distance.  He rode with a hawk on his fist, and dogs by his side; and the boldness of his manner as effectually screened him from discovery as the most skilful disguise.

The king, on his arrival,[c] was indulged with a separate chamber, under pretense of indisposition; but the next morning he found himself in the company of two persons, of whom one had been a private in his regiment of guards at Worcester, the other a servant in the palace at Richmond, when Charles lived there several years before.  The first did not recognise him, though he pretended to give a description of his person; the other, the moment the king uncovered, recollected the features of the prince, and communicated his suspicions to Lassells.  Charles, with great judgment, sent for him, discovered himself to him as an old acquaintance, and required his assistance.  The man (he was butler to the family) felt himself honoured by the royal confidence, and endeavoured to repay it by his services.  He removed to a distance from the king two individuals in the house of known republican principles; he inquired, though without success, for a

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1651.  Sept. 11.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1651.  Sept. 14.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1651.  Sept. 15.]

ship at Bristol to carry him to France or Spain; and he introduced Lord Wilmot to his chamber at the hour of midnight.  There they sat in council, and resolved[a] that the king should remove the next day to the house of Colonel Windham, a Cavalier whom he knew, at Trent, near Sherburn; that a messenger should be despatched to prepare the family for his arrival; and that to account for the sudden departure of Miss Lane, a counterfeit letter should be delivered to her, stating that her father was lying at the point of death.  The plan succeeded; she was suffered[b] to depart, and in two days the prince reached[c] his destination.  The following morning[d] Miss Lane took her leave, and hastened back with Lassells to Bentley.[1]