r continued, looking at Reuben.

'I have come to see something of the world, and to be with my friend and
companion here,' he replied.

'And I have stronger reasons than any of ye,' Sir Jacob cried, 'for
appearing in arms against any man who bears the name of Stuart. Had I
not a mission here which cannot be neglected, I might myself be tempted
to hie westward with ye, and put these grey hairs of mine once more into
the rough clasp of a steel headpiece. For where now is the noble castle
of Snellaby, and where those glades and woods amidst which the Clancings
have grown up, and lived and died, ere ever Norman William set his
foot on English soil? A man of trade--a man who, by the sweat of his
half-starved workers, had laid by ill-gotten wealth, is now the owner
of all that fair property. Should I, the last of the Clancings, show
my face upon it, I might be handed over to the village beadle as a
trespasser, or scourged off it perhaps by the bowstrings of insolent
huntsmen.'

'And how comes so sudden a reverse of fortune?' I asked.

'Fill up your glasses!' cried the old man, suiting the action to the
word. 'Here's a toast for you! Perdition to all faithless princes!
How came it about, ye ask? Why, when the troubles came upon the first
Charles, I stood by him as though he had been mine own brother. At
Edgehill, at Naseby, in twenty skirmishes and battles, I fought stoutly
in his cause, maintaining a troop of horse at my own expense, formed
from among my own gardeners, grooms, and attendants. Then the military
chest ran low, and money must be had to carry on the contest. My silver
chargers and candlesticks were thrown into the melting-pot, as were
those of many another cavalier. They went in metal and they came out
as troopers and pikemen. So we tided over a few months until again the
purse was empty, and again we filled it amongst us. This time it was the
home farm and the oak trees that went. Then came Marston Moor, and every
penny and man was needed to repair that great disaster. I flinched not,
but gave everything. This boiler of soap, a prudent, fat-cheeked man,
had kept himself free from civil broils, and had long had a covetous eye
upon the castle. It was his ambition, poor worm, to be a gentleman, as
though a gabled roof and a crumbling house could ever make him that. I
let him have his way, however, and threw the sum received, every guinea
of it, into the King's coffers. And so I held out until the final ruin
of