always in hot water, and,
were he a few years older, would become a marked man. We have got
to bide our time, and, except among friends, it is best to keep a
quiet tongue until that time comes."

To Sir Marmaduke's disappointment, three more years went on without
the position changing in any Way. Messengers went and came between
France and the English Jacobites, but no movement was made. The
failure of the assassination plot had strengthened William's hold
on the country, for Englishmen love fair play and hate assassination,
so that many who had, hitherto, been opponents of William of Orange,
now ranged themselves on his side, declaring they could no longer
support a cause that used assassination as one of its weapons. More
zealous Jacobites, although they regretted the assassination plot,
and were as vehement of their denunciations of its authors as were
the Whigs, remained staunch in their fidelity to "the king over the
water," maintaining stoutly that his majesty knew nothing whatever
of this foul plot, and that his cause was in no way affected by the
misconduct of a few men, who happened to be among its adherents.

At Lynnwood things went on as usual. Charlie continued his studies,
in a somewhat desultory way, having but small affection for books;
kept up his fencing lesson diligently and learned to dance;
quarrelled occasionally with his cousin Alured, spent a good deal
of his time on horseback, and rode over, not unfrequently, to
Rockley, choosing, as far as possible, the days and hours when he
knew that Alured and his father were likely to be away. He went
over partly for his own pleasure, but more in compliance with his
father's wishes.

"My cousin seldom comes over, herself," the latter said. "I know,
right well, that it is from no slackness of her own, but that her
husband likes not her intimacy here. It is well, then, that you
should go over and see them, for it is only when you bring her that
I see Ciceley. I would she were your sister, lad, for she is a
bright little maid, and would make the old house lively."

Therefore, once a week or so, Charlie rode over early too Rockley,
which was some five miles distant, and brought back Ciceley,
cantering on her pony by his side, escorting her home again before
nightfall. Ciceley's mother wondered, sometimes, that her husband,
who in most matters set his will in opposition to hers, never
offered any objection to the girl's visits to Lynnwood. She thought
that,