e person she was
addressing.

Stephen looked gratified. "I will not betray my trust," he said, "and I
hope, Mistress Alice, that I shall act in a way to merit your approval."

The lads did not allow their plates to remain idly before them. Roger
sent his for an additional supply of the goodly sirloin which the
Colonel was carving, and then, as soon as he had finished eating,
without waiting for the pasties or Master Holden's grace, he started up
and said: "We have your leave, uncle, my father not objecting, to visit
the stranger, and I doubt not we shall bring you before evening a good
account of her."

Mr Willoughby nodded his assent. "You may go, Roger, and Stephen is
his own master, but remember the caution you have received. Should you
find, which is most probable, that the commander is a goodly person, and
his ship is going to remain long enough at anchor, you may invite him up
to the manor-house, and say we shall gladly receive him. It may be that
he has been long at sea, and some fresh provisions will be welcome."

"Thank you," said Roger, leaving his chair.--"Come along, Stephen; we
shall find Ben Rullock and Toby at their hut before they leave for their
evening fishing, if we make haste."

Stephen, with less eagerness than that exhibited by his friend, rose
from his seat, and bowing to Madam Pauline and Mistress Alice, followed
Roger out of the hall.

"They are spirited lads," observed the Colonel, "and as they have little
enough to fill up their time, I like not to deny them such amusement as
they discover for themselves."

"Where it is harmless 'tis right that it should be encouraged," remarked
Master Holden, who seldom said anything except it was to agree with the
Colonel, his patron, by whose means he had been reinstated in the parish
at the Restoration.

Colonel Tregellen, a staunch Cavalier, the owner of Eversden, had during
the Civil War been among the most active partisans of King Charles the
First, in whose service he had expended large sums of money. On the
triumph of Cromwell his property was confiscated, and he had judged it
prudent to escape beyond seas. The manor, however, had been purchased
by his brother-in-law, Roger Willoughby, who had married his sister, and
who had held it during the period of the Commonwealth. Mr Willoughby
was a rigid Puritan, and had been as active in supporting Cromwell as
his brother-in-law had been in the cause of the opposite party. At the
Restorati