s, and Charles shall admit that
he is no match for Rochester."

"But whither go you now to banishment?" asked De Grammont, as
Rochester rose to leave him.

"You shall hear from me anon," replied the earl; "I go to make an
actress of my lady's maid, and to study snares for the king."

CHAPTER III.

Rochester left London for a day or two to conceal the traces of his
whereabouts; but disguising himself completely, and assuming the
habit of a simple citizen, he soon returned, and selected an
ostensible residence, where he intended, for the time, to appear in
the character he had adopted.

Chance, in this vagary, had given to Rochester, as a host, a gentleman
and a soldier, who had once been an equal and a companion.

A cavalier officer, and one of the most devoted to his king, Colonel
Boynton, had fought in almost every battle against the troops of the
parliament, and distinguished himself sufficiently in several to
attract the royal notice, and to elicit the commendation of his king.
With the loss of the royal cause, Colonel Boynton retired, wounded
both in person and in fortune, to private life, where, in the society
of his wife and infant daughter, he strove to forget the downfall of
the unfortunate though guilty Charles, and the ruin of his family.

The triumph of the parliamentary cause still further affected
Boynton's fortunes; yet, when some years after he knew that the sons
of his royal master were fugitives in a foreign land, and in pecuniary
distress, he did not hesitate to impoverish himself in order to
minister to their necessities; trusting to Providence and his own
exertions for his immediate wants, and to the re-establishment of the
monarchy and the royal gratitude for his future fortune.

Colonel Boynton had lived to see the son of the First Charles ascend
the throne; but his just expectations, with regard to his own fortune,
had not been realized. Too proud to present himself to the royal
notice to claim the reward of his services, and the return of his
advances, when he thought that gratitude required he should be sought
out, he languished, with his daughter, who had now grown up to be a
beautiful maiden, neglected and unnoticed in a condition not many
degrees removed from absolute want; struggling for the means of
existence, and cherishing each hour increased feelings of bitterness
against the king and the court.

It was with Colonel Boynton that Rochester now took up his abode, nor
was it l