Hayslope Grange | Page 6

want the herb tea, aunt," said Harry, in a clear, calm voice. "I
am quite well; the sun has not affected my head, and I know quite well
what I am about."
Aunt Mabel looked incredulous; but his father, losing the fear of illness,
sat down in his chair, a dim feeling of a sorer trouble than this coming
over him as he looked at Harry. "Sit down," he said, in a tone of
command to the rest, who stood just as they had risen from their
knees--"sit down and listen to the reason my son has to give for
interrupting our godly exercise this evening." And he looked towards
Harry as if waiting for his answer.
The young man instinctively drew a step nearer to Maud, as if mutely
asking her sympathy and support; but she was looking down upon the
oaken floor, utterly unable to comprehend what Harry could mean by
this strange proceeding.
Harry seemed to feel that he had acted unwisely in yielding to his
impulse; and he said, slowly, "Prithee, father, let me tell it to yourself
alone."

"By my faith, that cannot be now, Harry," said Master Drury,
energetically. "We have all been hindered in our devotions by your
froward speech, and each has an equal right to hear your reason for it."
The men and maid-servants gathered at the end of the room pitied poor
Harry in his confusion, and would have retreated, trusting to have their
curiosity gratified afterwards by the tell-tale tongue of Bessie or
Bertram; but Mistress Mabel's eye was upon them, and they knew they
dared not go away.
Harry's face changed from an ashy whiteness to crimson as his father
spoke, and then he went pale again as he said, "My father, do not force
me to speak out now; let me go to your study, and I will tell you all that
has been passing in my mind of late."
But Master Drury was inexorable when once he had made up his mind.
"My son, we are waiting," was all he said in reply to Harry's entreaty.
Harry drew himself up, and casting a hasty glance at Maud's bowed
figure, he said, "Father, I have resolved to cast in my lot with the
patriots who are striving to rescue this country from the grasp of tyrants;
they are not the evil-doers you think them. It is the King and
archbishop and their advisers who are traitors, not the Parliament, or
the brave, true men who are fighting for it."
He might have been hurried into saying much more, but at this moment
Maud fell to the ground with a piercing shriek; and at the same instant
Gilbert Clayton seized Harry's arm and dragged him from the room.
[Illustration: HARRY'S ANNOUNCEMENT.]

CHAPTER III.
TRAITOR OR HERO?
The confusion and dismay into which the orderly household of

Hayslope Grange was thrown by Harry's untimely and hasty confession
baffles all description. Fainting among young ladies was not so
common in those days, and the only orthodox remedy known to
Mistress Mabel being burnt feathers, these had to be fetched from the
poultry-yard, and singed at the kitchen fire, before anything else could
be done for Maud, who still lay unconscious on the floor; while Bessie
and Bertram, thinking of their aunt's words of the morning, cried and
screamed, "Prithee, tell them to let the archbishop go; poor Maud will
die if you don't!"
Clayton had some difficulty in keeping Harry outside the house,
whither they had retreated when he heard that Maud was ill; but
thinking that his presence would only add to the confusion in the
keeping-room if he went in again, he prevailed upon him to remain
where he was until Master Drury came out and fetched them both into
the study.
His face was white and rigid, with such a look of helpless woe about
the lines of his mouth that it touched Gilbert more deeply than the
fiercest expression of anger could have done. Harry's misery seemed
complete when he looked at his father's face in the dim light of the
study lamp, and falling on his knees, he exclaimed--
"Oh, my father, forgive me!"
But his father drew back hastily from the outstretched hands.
"Rise from your knees, Harry Drury!" he said, sternly, "and tell me
what you mean by the froward words you have this night spoken."
"My father, I spoke hastily and unadvisedly," said Harry, humbly. "I
should have come to you alone, and confessed that my opinions of the
King's doings had greatly changed of late, and begged your permission
to join the army now fighting for the Parliament."
"And do you think I would have given it, traitor-caitiff?" said Master
Drury, sternly.

"I have angered you," said Harry; "but, my father, you will