The Children of the New Forest

"I can not conceal my opinions, sir; I was brought up in the house of a loyal Cavalier, and never will be otherwise."

"Granted—why should you be? but do you not yourself see that you do the cause more harm than good by thus avowing your opinions when such avowal is useless? If every other man in the county, who is of your opinion, was to express himself, now that your cause is hopeless, as you have done, the prisons would be crowded, the executions would be dayly, and the cause would be, in proportion, weakened by the loss of the most daring. 'Bide your time' is a good motto, and I recommend it to you. You must feel that, however we may be at variance in our opinions, Edward Armitage, my hand and my authority never can be used against one to whom I am so indebted; and, feeling this, you compel me, in the presence of others, to use a harshness and coldness toward you, contrary, wholly contrary, to what, you may believe me when I say it, I really feel for one who so nobly rescued my only child."

"I thank you, sir, for your advice, which I feel to be good, and for your good opinion, which I value."

"And which I feel that you deserve; and you shall have, young as you are, my confidence, which I know you will not abuse. I did know this man who now lies dead before us, and I did also know that he was concealed in this cottage; Major Ratcliffe was one of my earliest and dearest friends, and until this unhappy civil war, there never was any difference between us, and even afterward only in politics, and the cause we each espoused. I knew, before I came down here as intendant, where his place of concealment was, and have been most anxious for his safety."

"Excuse me, Mr. Heatherstone, but each day I find more to make me like you than I did the day before; at first I felt most inimical; now I only wonder how you can be leagued with the party you now are."

"Edward Armitage, I will now answer for myself and thousands more. You are too young a man to have known the cause of the insurrection, or, rather, opposition, to the unfortunate King Charles. He attempted to make himself absolute, and to wrest the liberties from the people of England: that his warmest adherents will admit. When I joined the party which opposed him, I little thought that matters would have been carried so far as they have been; I always considered it lawful to take up arms in defense of our liberties, but at the same time I equally felt that the person of the king was sacred."

"I have heard so, sir."

"Yes, and in truth; for never did any people strive more zealously to prevent the murder of the king—for murder it was—than my relative Ashley Cooper and myself—so much so, indeed, as to have incurred not only the suspicion but the ill-will of Cromwell, who, I fear, is now making rapid advances toward that absolute authority for which the king has suffered, and which he would now vest in his own person. I considered that our cause was just; and, had the power been left in the hands of those who would have exercised it with discretion and moderation, the king would even now have been on the throne, and the liberties of his subjects sacred; but it is easier to put a vast and powerful engine into motion than to stop it, and such has been the case in this unfortunate civil war. Thousands who took an active part against the king will, when the opportunity is ripe, retrace their steps; but I expect that we have much to suffer before that time will come. And now, Edward Armitage, I have said more to you than I have to any person breathing, except my own kinsman."

"I thank you for your confidence, sir, which not only will not be betrayed, but will act as a warning to guide my future conduct."

"I meant it should. Be no longer rash and careless in avowing your opinions. You can do no good to the cause, and may do yourself much harm. And now I must ask you another question, which I could not before the other people. You have surprised me by stating that Major Ratcliffe had a son here; there must be some mistake, or the boy must be an impostor. He had a daughter, an only daughter, as I have; but he never had a son."

"It is a mistake that I fell into, sir, by finding a boy here, as I stated to you at the inquest; and I considered it to be a boy, until I brought her home, and she then discovered to my sisters that she was a girl dressed in boys' clothes. I did not give that as explanation at the inquest, as it was not necessary."

"I am right, then. I must relieve you of that charge, Edward Armitage; she shall be to me as a daughter, and I trust that you will agree with me, without any disparagement to your feelings, that my house will be a more fit residence for her than your cottage."

"I will not prevent her going, if she wishes it, after your explanation and confidence, Mr. Heatherstone."

"One thing more. As I said to you before, Edward Armitage, I believe many of these verderers, all of which have been selected from the army, are spies upon me: I must therefore be careful. You said that you were not aware that there were any papers?"

"I saw none, sir; but I suspect, from the many locked-up trunks and small boxes, that there may be; but when I went out with the others from the inquest, I dispatched my brother Humphrey to the cottage, advising him to open all the locks and to remove any papers which he might find."

The intendant smiled.

"Well, if such is the case, we have only to go to your cottage and make an examination. We shall find nothing, and I shall have performed my duty. I was not aware that your brother was here. I presume it was the young man who walked with Oswald Partridge."

"It was, sir."

"By his appearance, I presume that he, also, was brought up at Arnwood?"

"He was, sir, as well as I," replied Edward.

"Well, then, I have but one word more to say—recollect, if I appear harsh and severe in the presence of others, it is only assumed toward you, and not real. You understand that?"

"I do, sir, and beg you will exercise your discretion."

The intendant then went out and said to the party, "It appears from what I can extract from this lad Armitage, that there are boxes which he removed to his cottage; we will go there to see what they may contain. It is now noon. Have you any refreshment to offer us in your cottage, young man, when we arrive?"

"I keep no hostelry, sir," replied Edward, somewhat gloomily; "my own labor and my brother's is sufficient for the support of my own family, but no more."

"Let us move on; and two of you keep your eye upon that young man," said the intendant aside.

They then proceeded through the wood; the intendant mounted his horse, and they set off for the cottage, where they arrived at about two o'clock in the afternoon.

CHAPTER XVII

Humphrey came out as soon as he perceived the intendant and his party approaching, and whispered to Edward that all was safe. The intendant dismounted, and ordering every body but his clerk to wait outside, was ushered into the cottage by Edward. Alice, Edith, and Pablo were in the room; the two girls were not a little flushed and frightened by the unusual appearance of so large a party of strangers.

"These are my sisters, sir," said Edward. "Where is Clara, Alice?"

"She is alarmed, and has gone into our bedroom."

"I hope you are not alarmed at my presence," said the intendant, looking earnestly at the two girls. "It is my duty which obliges me to pay this visit; but you have nothing to fear. Now, Edward Armitage, you must produce all the boxes and packages which you took from the cottage."

"I will, sir," replied Edward, "and here are the keys. Humphrey, do you and Pablo bring them out."

The boxes were brought out, opened, and examined by the intendant and his clerk, but of course no papers were found in them.

"I must now send in two of my people to search the house," said the intendant. "Had you not better go to the little girl, that she may not be frightened?"

"I will go to her," said Alice.

Two of the people, assisted by the clerk, then searched the house; they found nothing worthy of notice, except the weapons and armor which Edward had removed, and which he stated to the intendant that he took away as valuable property belonging to the little girl.

"It is sufficient," said the intendant to his clerk; "undoubtedly there are no papers; but I must, before I go, interrogate this child who has been removed thus; but she will be frightened, and I shall obtain no answer from her, if we are so many, so let every body leave the cottage while I speak to her."

The clerk and the others left the cottage, and the intendant desired Edward to bring Clara from the bedroom. She came out, accompanied by and clinging indeed to Alice, for she was much alarmed.

"Come here, Clara," said the intendant, gently; "you do not know perhaps that I am your sincere friend; and now that your father is dead, I want you to come and live with my daughter, who will be delighted to have you as a companion. Will you go with me, and I will take care of you and be a father to you?"

"I do not like to leave Alice and Edith; they treat me so kindly, and call me sister," replied Clara, sobbing.

"I am sure they do, and that you must be fond of them already, but still it is your duty to come with me; and if your father could speak to you now, he would tell you so. I will not force you away; but remember, you are born a lady, and must be brought up and educated as a lady, which can not be the case in this cottage, although they are very kind to you, and very nice young people. You do not recollect me, Clara; but you have often sat on my knee when you were a little girl and when your father lived in Dorsetshire. You recollect the great walnut-tree by the sitting-room window, which looked out in the garden; don't you?"

"Yes," replied Clara, with surprise.

"Yes, so do I too, and how you used to sit on my knee; and do you remember Jason, the big mastiff, and how you used to ride upon his back?"

"Yes," replied Clara, "I do; but he died a long while ago."

"He did, when you were not more than six years old. And now tell me, where did the old gardener bury him?"

"Under the mulberry-tree," replied Clara.

"Yes, so he did, and I was there when poor Jason was buried. You don't recollect me. But I will take off my hat, for I did not wear the same dress that I do now. Now look, Clara, and see if you remember me."

Clara, who was no longer alarmed, looked on the intendant's face, and then said, "You called my father Philip, and he used to call you Charles."

"You are right, my sweet one," replied the intendant, pressing Clara to his bosom; "I did so, and we were great friends. Now, will you come with me? and I have a little girl, older than you by three or four years, who will be your companion, and love you dearly."

"May I come and see Alice and Edith sometimes?"

"Yes, you shall, and she will come with you and make their acquaintance, if their brother will permit it. I will not take you away now, dearest; you shall remain here for a few days, and then we will come over and fetch you. I will send Oswald Partridge over to let you know the day, Edward Armitage, when we will come for her. Good-by, dear Clara; and good-by, my little girls. Humphrey Armitage, good-by. Who is this lad you have here?"

"He is a gipsy whom Humphrey trapped in his pitfall, sir, and we have soon tamed him," replied Edward.

"Well, then, Edward Armitage, good-by," said the intendant, extending his hand to him, "we must meet soon again."

The intendant then went out of the cottage, and joined his people outside. Edward went out after him; and as the intendant mounted his horse, he said very coldly to Edward, "I shall keep a sharp look-out on your proceedings, sir, depend upon it; I tell you so decidedly, so fare you well."

With these words the intendant put the spurs to his horse, and rode away.

"What made him speak so sharply to you, Edward?" said Humphrey.

"Because he means kindly, but does not want other people to know it," replied Edward. "Come in, Humphrey; I have much to tell you and much to surprise you with."

"I have been surprised already," replied Humphrey. "How did this Roundhead know Clara's father so well?"

"I will explain all before we go to bed," replied Edward; "let us go in now."

The two brothers had a long conversation that evening, in which Edward made Humphrey acquainted with all that had passed between him and the intendant.

"It's my opinion, Edward," said Humphrey, "that he thinks matters have been carried too far, and that he is sorry that he belongs to the Parliamentary party. He finds out, now that it is too late, that he has allied himself with those who have very different feelings and motives than his own, and has assisted to put power into the hands of those who have not the scruples which he has."

"Yes, and in ridding themselves of one tyranny, as they considered it, they have every prospect of falling into the hands of a greater tyrant than before; for, depend upon it, Cromwell will assume the sovereign power, and rule this kingdom with a rod of iron."

"Well, many more are, I have no doubt, or soon will be, of his opinion; and the time will come, be it sooner or later, when the king will have his own again. They have proclaimed him in Scotland already. Why does he not come over and show himself? His presence would, I think, induce thousands to flock to him; I'm sure that it would me."

"I am very glad of this good intelligence with the intendant, Edward, as it will not now be necessary for us to be so careful; we may go and come when we please. I almost wish you could be persuaded to accept any eligible offer he may make you. Many, no doubt, are in office, and serving the present government, who have the same feelings as the intendant, or even feelings as strong as your own."

"I can not bear the idea of accepting any thing from them or their instruments, Humphrey; nor, indeed, could I leave my sisters."

"On that score you may make your mind easy: Pablo and I are quite sufficient for the farm, or any thing else we may want to do. If you can be more useful elsewhere, have no scruple in leaving us. If the king was to come and raise an army, you would leave us, of course; and I see no reason why, if an eligible offer is made you, you should not do it now. You and your talents are thrown away in this forest; and you might serve the king and the king's cause better by going into the world and watching the times than you ever can by killing his venison."

"Certainly," replied Edward, laughing, "I do not much help his cause by killing his deer, that must be admitted; all I shall say is this, if any thing is offered to me which I can accept without injury to my feelings and my honor, I shall not decline it, provided that I may, by accepting it, prove of service to the king's cause."

"That is all I wish, Edward. And now I think we had better go to bed."

The next day they dug up the iron chest and the box into which Humphrey had put all the papers he had collected together. Edward opened the iron chest, and found in it a considerable quantity of gold in bags, and many trinkets and jewels which he did not know the value of. The papers he did not open, but resolved that they should be given to the intendant, for Edward felt that he could trust in him. The other boxes and trunks were also opened and examined, and many other articles of apparent value discovered.

"I should think all these jewels worth a great deal of money, Humphrey," said Edward; "if so, all the better for poor little Clara. I am sorry to part with her, although we have known her so short a time; she appears to be such an amiable and affectionate child."

"That she is; and certainly the handsomest little girl I ever saw. What beautiful eyes! Do you know that on one of her journeys to Lymington she was very nearly taken by a party of gipsies? and by what Pablo can make out, it would appear that it was by the party to which he belonged."

"I wonder at her father permitting her to go alone such a distance."

"Her father could not do otherwise. Necessity has no law. He could trust no other person, so he put her in boys' clothes that there might be less risk. Still, she must have been very intelligent to have done the office."

"She is thirteen years old, although she is small," replied Edward. "And intelligent she certainly is, as you may see by her countenance. Who would ever have imagined that our sisters would have been able to do what they are doing now? It's an old saying, 'We never know what we can do till we try.' By-the-by Humphrey, I met a famous herd of forest ponies the other day, and I said to myself, 'I wonder whether Humphrey will be clever enough to take one of them, as he has the wild cattle?' For Billy is getting old, and we want a successor."

"We want more than a successor to Billy, Edward: we want two more to help him—and I have the means of maintaining two more ponies if I could catch them."

"I fear that you will never manage that, Humphrey," said Edward, laughing.

"I know well what you mean," replied Humphrey: "you wish to dare me to it—well. I won't be dared to any thing, and I most certainly will try to catch a pony or two; but I must think about it first, and when I have arranged my plan in my mind, I will then make the attempt."

"When I see the ponies in the yard, I will believe it, Humphrey. They are as wild as deer and as fleet as the wind, and you can not catch them in a pitfall."

"I know that, good brother; but all I can say is, that I will try what I can do, and I can do no more—but not at present, for I am too busy."

Three days after this conversation, Oswald Partridge made his appearance, having been sent by the intendant to tell Edward that he should come over on the following day to take away little Clara.

"And how is she to go?" said Edward.

"He will bring a little nag for her, if she can ride—if she can not, she must ride in the cart which will come for the baggage."

"Clara, can you ride a horse?"

"Yes," replied Clara, "if it does not jump about too much. I always rode one when I lived in Dorsetshire."

"This won't jump about, my little lady," said Oswald, "for he is thirty years old, I believe, and as steady as an old gentleman ought to be."

"I have had some conversation with Master Heatherstone," continued Oswald to Edward. "He is much pleased with you, I can tell you. He said that in times like these he required young men like you about him; and that, as you would not take the berth of verderer, he must find one better suited for you; for he said you were too good for such an office."

"Many thanks to him for his good opinion," replied Edward; "but I do not think that he has any office in his gift which I can accept."

"So I thought, but I said nothing. He again asked many questions relative to old Jacob Armitage, and he pressed me very hard. He said that Humphrey was as much above his position in appearance as you were, but as he was brought up at Arnwood, he presumed that he had had the same advantages. And then he said—'But were his two sisters brought up at Arnwood also?' I replied, that I believed not, although they were often there, and were allowed to play with the children of the house. He looked at me steadfastly, as if he would read my thoughts, and then went on writing. I can not help thinking that he has a suspicion that you are not the grandchildren of old Jacob; but at the same time I do not think that he has an idea who you really are."

"You must keep our secret, Oswald," replied Edward. "I have a very good opinion of the intendant, I acknowledge; but I will trust nobody."

"As I hope for future mercy, sir, I never will divulge it until you bid me," replied Oswald.

"I trust to you, Oswald, and so there's an end of the matter. But tell me, Oswald, what do they say about his taking charge of this little girl?"

"Why, they did begin to talk about it; but when he gave out that it was the order of Parliament that the child should remain with him until further directions, of course they said nothing, for they dared not. It seems that the Ratcliffe property is sequestrated, but not yet granted to any one; and the Parliament will most likely, as soon as she is old enough, give her as a wife, with the property, to one of their party; they have done it before now, as it secures the property under all changes."

"I perceive," replied Edward. "When did you hear that the little girl was to live with him?"

"Not till yesterday morning; and it was not till the evening that we knew it was the order of Parliament."

Edward did not think it right to tell Oswald what he knew, as it was a secret confided to him by the intendant, and therefore merely observed—"I presumed that the child would not be permitted to remain on our hands;" and then the conversation dropped.

As Oswald had informed them, the intendant made his appearance in the forenoon of the following day, and was accompanied by his daughter, who rode by his side. A groom, on horse, led a pony for Clara to ride; and a cart for the luggage followed at some distance. Edward went out to assist Miss Heatherstone to dismount, and she frankly extended her hand to him as she reached the ground. Edward was a little surprised as well as pleased, at this condescension on her part toward a forester.

"You do me much honor, Mistress Patience," said he, bowing.

"I can not forget that I owe my life to you, Master Armitage," replied Patience, "and I can not be too grateful. May I request another favor of you?"

"Certainly, if it is in my power to do as you wish."

"It is this," said she, in a low voice—"that you will not hastily reject any overtures which may be made to you by my father; that is all. And now let me go in and see your sisters, for my father has praised them very much, and I wish to know them."

Edward led the way into the cottage, and Patience followed him, while the intendant was in conversation with Humphrey. Edward, having introduced his sisters and Clara, then went out to pay his respects to the intendant, who, now they were alone, was very candid toward both him and Humphrey.

Edward then told the intendant that there was an iron chest with a good deal of money in it, and jewels also, and many other articles of value in the other boxes.

"I fear, sir, that the cart will hardly hold all the goods."

"I do not intend to take away the heavy or more bulky articles, such as the bedding, armor, &c. I will only take Clara's own packages, and the valuables and papers. The remainder may stay here, as they can be of no use, till they are demanded from you. Where is Oswald Partridge?"

"In the stable with the horses, sir," replied Humphrey.

"Then, when the cart is loaded—and it had better be done by you while the men are in the stable—Oswald shall take charge of it, and take the things to my house."

"Here are the keys, sir," said Edward, presenting them.

"Good. And now, Edward Armitage, that we are alone, I want to have a little conversation with you. You are aware how much I feel indebted to you for the service you have rendered me, and how anxious I am to show my gratitude. You are born for better things than to remain an obscure forester, and perhaps a deer-stalker. I have now an offer to make to you, which I trust, upon reflection, you will not refuse—and I say reflection, because I do not wish you to give an answer till you have well reflected. I know that you will not accept any thing under the present government; but a private situation you can raise no objection to; the more so as, so far from leaving your family, you will be more in a position to protect them. I am in want of a secretary, and I wish you to accept that office, to live entirely in my house, and to receive a handsome salary for your services, which will not, I trust, be too heavy. You will be near to your family here in the cottage, and be able to protect them and assist them; and what is more, you will mix with the world and know what is going on, as I am in the confidence of the government. Of course, I put implicit confidence in you, or I would not offer the situation. But you will not be always down here: I have my correspondents and friends, to whom I shall have to send you occasionally on most trusty missions. You, I am sure, will suit me in every respect, and I hope you will undertake the post which I now offer to you. Give me no answer just now; consult with your brother, and give the offer due consideration, and when you have made up your mind you can let me know."