earnestly. "Harry told
Bertie this morning that he was a fierce, cruel man, one of the greatest
robbers that ever lived; and that he justly deserved the title the
King's enemies had given him, 'Prince of Plunderers.'"

Maud looked down at the eager upturned face, feeling somewhat puzzled,
but she thought Harry might have heard something that seemed to him very
cruel--something that the great Prince had been obliged to do to save
the King, perhaps, which yet had roused Harry's anger, feeling so keenly
as he did for everybody's distress. At all events, Harry was right, and
Prince Rupert was right too, she had no doubt, if things could only be
explained; and in this way she contrived to silence Bessie, if she did
not convince her; and the little girl went to tell Bertie that Maud did
not think his soldier-hero a bad man after all; while Maud pursued her
walk through the fields, indulging in very happy thoughts, in spite of
the danger she was anticipating for Harry when he should join the King's
army.

CHAPTER II.

HARRY'S ANNOUNCEMENT.

Gilbert Clayton, Harry's friend, was a stranger to the rest of the
family; but Master Drury no sooner heard of his arrival than he invited
him to stay as long as he pleased, or as long as his business would
permit; and this was so warmly seconded by Harry, that young Clayton
could not but remain. He was the more willing to do this, as he had been
ordered by the doctors to leave London and reside in the country before
joining the army again, for he had received a dangerous wound the
previous summer in the battle of Chalgrove, where his kinsman, the brave
and pious John Hampden, was mortally wounded. It was by talking of John
Hampden that Harry first became acquainted with Gilbert Clayton, and now
he wanted to hear more of him and the gentle Sir Bevil Granville, who
had so bravely led on his pikemen at the battle of Lansdowne.

The talks about these heroes generally took place in the most quiet part
of the garden; for Gilbert Clayton, knowing his host's political
opinions differed from his own, was too courteous to bring forward the
subject before him and his family. Master Drury himself rarely talked of
public matters with any one, and loved his books and the quiet of his
study too well to take any active part in such affairs; and he said he
could help the King's cause more by his prayers than anything else; so
the two young men were left to amuse themselves as they pleased, an