cept
her rule in your royal father's name. It would raise sedition and
tumult at once. The house and faction of York know this. They know
that their power would be secure were King Henry and his queen
alone in the matter; but there is still one more--the Prince of
Wales, against whom no man speaks evil, even the most rancorous
enemies of the House of Lancaster. All who have seen him love him;
all speak of his noble person, his graces of body and mind, his
aptness to rule, his kingly qualities.

"You smile, but in truth it is so. The nation might rally beneath
the banner of such a prince; and the proud nobles of the rival king
know it well, and could they get the prince into their own power,
they know that victory is from that moment theirs. Wherefore,
Edward, if it be true that you are known, we must fly, and that
instantly. These lawless men will not quit the trail till they have
run the quarry down, and delivered you dead or alive into the hands
of the foe. They know well the value of the prize, and they will
not let it escape them."

Edward felt the truth of these words. Paul had been anxious and
alarmed before, but never with the same cause. He had always been
fearful that the young prince might be recognized by some wayfarer,
who might have chanced to see him in past days or at the French
court; but he had never before made sure that this recognition had
actually taken place, and the likeness between the supposed
brothers, though more a likeness now in figure and colouring and
expression than actually in feature, was as great a safeguard as
could have been devised.

Moreover, not a rumour of any kind had come over from France
reporting the escape or absence of the Prince of Wales, and it was
far fetched to imagine that anybody would suspect the identity of
the yellow-haired youth. But the occurrences of this day, combined
with Edward's admission about the clasp, had roused Paul's worst
fears, and it did indeed seem as if there were some watch set upon
their movements now.

He looked earnestly into the flushed face of the fair young prince,
and then said thoughtfully:

"Edward, I have a plan whereby I think you can escape this
threatened danger. Leave this house tonight--at once, if the coast
be clear--and go as fast as your steed can take you to your royal
father, and claim the protection of his state, and that of the earl
your future father-in-law. Tell all your story, and it will make of
you the idol eve