Charles asked him how he came to know so well what took place, and was
told in reply that he had been in the king's regiment. On being
questioned more closely, it proved that he had really been in Charles's
own regiment of guards.

"What kind of man was he you call the king?" asked Charles, with an
assumed air of curiosity.

The fellow replied with an accurate description of the dress worn by the
prince during the battle, and of the horse he rode. He looked at Charles
on concluding.

"He was at least three fingers taller than you," he said.

The buttery was growing too hot for Will Jackson. What if, in another
look, this fellow should get a nearer glimpse at the truth? The
disguised prince made a hasty excuse for leaving the place, being, as he
says, "more afraid when I knew he was one of our own soldiers, than when
I took him for one of the enemy's."

This alarm was soon followed by a greater one. One of his companions
came to him in a state of intense affright.

"What shall we do?" he cried. "I am afraid Pope, the butler, knows you.
He has said very positively to me that it is you, but I have denied it."

"We are in a dangerous strait, indeed," said Charles. "There is nothing
for it, as I see, but to trust the man with our secret. Boldness, in
cases like this, is better than distrust. Send Pope to me."

The butler was accordingly sent, and Charles, with a flattering show of
candor, told him who he was, and requested his silence and aid. He had
taken the right course, as it proved. Pope was of loyal blood. He could
not have found a more intelligent and devoted adherent than the butler
showed himself during the remainder of his stay in that house.

But the attentions shown the prince were compromising, in consideration
of his disguise as a groom; suspicions were likely to be aroused, and it
was felt necessary that he should seek a new asylum. One was found at
Trent House, in the same county, the residence of a fervent royalist
named Colonel Windham. Charles remained here, and in this vicinity, till
the 6th of October, seeking in vain the means of escape from one of the
neighboring ports. The coast proved to be too closely watched, however;
and in the end soldiers began to arrive in the neighborhood, and the
rumor spread that Colonel Windham's house was suspected. There was
nothing for it but another flight, which, this time, brought him into
Wiltshire, where he took refuge at Hele House, the residence of Mr.