Roger Willoughby | Page 4

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 Restoration the tables were again
turned, and Colonel Tregellen, who had some time before ventured
back to England, had, by an amicable arrangement with his
brother-in-law, again become possessed of the estate, it being settled
that Mr Willoughby and his son should reside with him.
While abroad, Colonel Tregellen had married a French Protestant lady,
a very charming and lively person, who made herself liked by all who
came in contact with her. Having no children of their own, they had
adopted the grand-daughter of a Cavalier friend killed at Naseby, who
had committed his only daughter to the Colonel's care. On his return to
England she came to live at Eversden Manor, where she married Mr
Harry Tufnell, the younger son of a gentleman of property in the county.
He, however, soon afterwards died, leaving his widow and infant
daughter slenderly provided for. Two years elapsed from his death,
when Mrs Tufnell, who was then staying at the manor-house, followed
him to the grave. Madam Pauline had promised to be a mother to her

child, and such she had ever since truly proved. Alice, who was too
young to feel her loss, had always looked upon the Colonel and his
wife as her parents, and loved them as such, though the Colonel had
considered it expedient that she should retain her father's name, and
keep up such intercourse with her family as circumstances would
permit. She amply rewarded the Colonel and Madam Pauline for the
care they bestowed on her by the amiability of her disposition, her
sweet and engaging manners, and the affection she exhibited towards
them. She was a year or two younger than Roger, but from her
intelligence and appearance, and a certain manner she had caught from
Madam Pauline, she was generally supposed to be older. She and
Roger were fast friends, and regarded each other as brother and sister.
Of late she not only looked but felt herself the elder of the two, and
treated him as young ladies are sometimes inclined to treat boys, in a
slightly dictatorial way, ordering him about, and expecting him to obey
her slightest behest; as he was invariably obedient they never quarrelled,
and she always appeared to receive his service as her right.
Mr Willoughby, who lost his wife some years after the Restoration, and
was in infirm health, had sunk almost heart-broken into the position of
a dependant on his brother-in-law. He had paid a heavy price to obtain
Eversden, and had also expended large sums in support of the cause he
advocated, besides which, certain mercantile speculations into which he
had entered had been unsuccessful, so that when deprived of