It was on one of these less crowded highways that there was this morning enacted a curious little drama.  The sun was still young and not too strong for comfort, and as it rose back of the square of Sadler’s it cast a shadow from a hedge which ran angling toward the southeast.  Its rays, therefore, did not disturb the slumbers of two young men who were lying beneath the shelter of the hedge.  Strange enough must have been the conclusions of the sun could it have looked over the barrier and peered into the faces of these youths.  Evidently they were of good breeding and some station, albeit their garb was not of the latest fashion.  The gray hose and the clumsy shoes plainly bespoke some northern residence.  The wig of each lacked the latest turn, perhaps the collar of the coat was not all it should have been.  There was but one coat visible, for the other, rolled up as a pillow, served to support the heads of both.  The elder of the two was the one who had sacrificed his covering.  The other was more restless in his attitude, and though thus the warmer for a coat, was more in need of comfort.  A white bandage covered his wrist, and the linen was stained red.  Yet the two slept on, well into the morn, well into the rout of Sadler’s Wells.  Evidently they were weary.

The elder man was the taller of the two; as he lay on the bank beneath the hedge, he might even in that posture have been seen to own a figure of great strength and beauty.  His face, bold of outline, with well curved, wide jaw and strong cheek bones, was shaded by the tangled mat of his wig, tousled in his sleep.  His hands, long and graceful, lay idly at his side, though one rested lightly on the hilt of the sword which lay near him.  The ruffles of his shirt were torn, and, indeed, had almost disappeared.  By study one might have recognized them in the bandage about the hand of the other.  Somewhat disheveled was this youth, yet his young, strong body, slender and shapely, seemed even in its rest strangely full of power and confidence.

The younger man was in some fashion an epitome of the other, and it had needed little argument to show the two were brothers.  But why should two brothers, well-clad and apparently well-to-do, probably brothers from a country far to the north, be thus lying like common vagabonds beneath an English hedge?

Far down the roadway there rose a cloud of dust, which came steadily nearer, following the only vehicle in sight, probably the only one which had passed that morning.  As this little dust-cloud came slowly nearer it might have been seen to rise from the wheels of a richly-built and well-appointed coach.  Four dark horses obeyed the reins handled by a solemn-visaged lackey on the box, and there was a goodly footman at the back.  Within the coach were two passengers such as might have set Sadler’s Wells by the ears.  They sat on the same seat, as equals, and their heads lay close together, as confidantes.  The tongues of both ran fast and free.  Long gloves