lad, I have no doubt that the matter will straighten itself out, and come right in the end.  It is always the most trying time, for timorous hearts, before the first shot of a battle is fired.  Once the engagement commences, there is no time for fear.  The battle has to be fought out, and the best way to safety is to win a victory.  I have not the least doubt that, as soon as it is known that the king has landed, there will be no more shilly-shallying or hesitation.  Every loyal man will mount his horse, and call out his tenants, and, in a few days, England will be in a blaze from end to end.”

Charlie troubled himself but little with what was going on.  His father had promised him that, when the time did come, he should ride by his side, and with that promise he was content to wait, knowing that, at present, his strength would be of but little avail, and that every week added somewhat to his weight and sinew.

One day he was in the garden with Ciceley.  The weather was hot, and the girl was sitting, in a swing, under a shady tree, occasionally starting herself by a push with her foot on the ground, and then swaying gently backward and forward, until the swing was again at rest.  Charlie was seated on the ground, near her, pulling the ears of his favourite dog, and occasionally talking to her, when a servant came out, with a message that his father wanted to speak to him.

“I expect I shall be back in a few minutes, Ciceley, so don’t you wander away till I come.  It is too hot today to be hunting for you, all over the garden, as I did when you hid yourself last week.”

It was indeed but a short time until he returned.

“My father only wanted to tell me that he is just starting for Bristowe’s, and, as it is over twenty miles away, he may not return until tomorrow.”

“I don’t like that man’s face who brought the message to you, Charlie.”

“Don’t you?” the boy said carelessly.  “I have not noticed him much.  He has not been many months with us.

“What are you thinking of?” he asked, a minute later, seeing that his cousin looked troubled.

“I don’t know that I ought to tell you, Charlie.  You know my father does not think the same way as yours about things.”

“I should rather think he doesn’t,” Charlie laughed.  “There is no secret about that, Ciceley; but they don’t quarrel over it.  Last time your father and mother came over here, I dined with them for the first time, and I noticed there was not a single word said about politics.  They chatted over the crops, and the chances of a war in Europe, and of the quarrel between Holstein and Denmark, and whether the young king of Sweden would aid the duke, who seems to be threatened by Saxony as well as by Denmark.  I did not know anything about it, and thought it was rather stupid; but my father and yours both seemed of one mind, and were as good friends as if they were in equal agreement on all other points.  But what has that to do with Nicholson, for that is the man’s name who came out just now?”