‘Mother!’ he said—­with a half-wondering tone, as the recollections of six years old came back to him more fully, and then he nestled again in her arms as if she were far more real to him than at first—­ ‘Mother!’ And then, as she sobbed over him, ‘The little one?’

’The babe is well, when last I heard of her, in a convent at York.  Thou rememberest her?’

‘Ay—­my little sister!  Ay,’ he said, with a considering interrogative sound, ’I mind her well, and old Bunce too, that taught me to ride.’

But Hob interrupted the reminiscences by bringing up the pony on which Anne had ridden, and insisting that the lady should not tarry longer.  ‘He,’ indicating Hal, might walk beside her through the wood, and thus prolong their interview, but, as she well knew, it was entirely unsafe to remain any longer away from the castle.

There were embraces and sobbing thanks exchanged between the lady and her son’s old nurse, and then Hal, at a growling hint from Hob, came forward, and awkwardly helped her to her saddle.  He walked by her side through the wood, holding her rein, while Hob, going before, did his best in the twilight to clear away the tangled branches and brambles that fell across the path, and were near of striking the lady across the face as she rode.

On the way she talked to her son about his remembrances, anxious to know how far his dim recollections went of the old paternal castle in Bedfordshire, of his infant sister and brother, and his father.  Of him he had little recollection, only of being lifted in his arms, kissed and blessed, and seeing him ride away with his troop, clanking in their armour.  After that he remembered nothing, save the being put into a homelier dress, and travelling on Nurse Dolly’s lap in a wain, up and down, it seemed to him, for ever, till at last clearer recollections awoke in him, and he knew himself as Hal the shepherd’s boy, with the sheep around him, and the blue starry sky above him.

‘Dost thou remember what thou wast called in those times?’ asked his mother.

‘I was always Hal.  The little one was Meg,’ he said.

‘Even so, my boy, my dear boy!  But knowst thou no more than this?’

’Methinks, methinks there were serving-men that called me the young Lord.  Ay, so!  But nurse said I must forget all that.  Mother dear, when that maiden came and talked of tilts and lances, meseemed that I recollected somewhat.  Was then my father a knight?’

‘Alack! alack! my child, that thou shouldst not know!’

‘Memories came back with that maiden’s voice and thine,’ said Hal, in a bewildered tone.  ’My father!  Was he then slain when he rode farther?’

‘Ah!  I may tell thee now thou art old enough to guard thyself,’ she said.  ’Thy father, whom our blessed Lord assoilzie, was the Lord Clifford, slain by savage hands on Towton field for his faith to King Harry!  Thou, my poor boy, art the Baron of Clifford, though while this cruel House of York be in power thou must keep in hiding from them in this mean disguise.  Woe worth the day!’