Sir Oliver was personally liked by the king, which was another
point in his favour. Without being a brilliant ruler like his
successors, the seventh Henry had the faculty of choosing men of
parts to place about him, and he had recognized in Sir Oliver
Chadgrove certain qualities which he approved, and of which he
wished to avail himself from time to time. So the knight was
frequently summoned to attend the king, and occasionally his wife
went with him and appeared at court. On this particular bright June
night, both the master and the mistress were absent, being at
Windsor with the king's court; and the three boys--the children
with whom Providence had blessed them--were the only members of the
family sleeping beneath the roof of the great house.

The bedchamber of the three boys was a large, bare room looking out
across the wooded park and ridge of hills, through which the little
river of Chad meandered leisurely. The boys would have preferred
the courtyard for their lookout; but a lover of nature could not
but be struck by the exceeding beauty of the view from this row of
latticed casements. And indeed the green expanse of home-like
country had its charm even for high-spirited boys; and Edred, the
second child of the house, often sat for hours together on the wide
window ledge, gazing his fill at the shifting lights and shadows,
and dreaming dreams of his own about what he saw.

The long room contained three small narrow beds, and very little
furniture besides, In each of these beds a boy lay sleeping. The
moonlight streaming in through the uncurtained windows illuminated
the whole room, and showed the curly heads, two dark and one fair,
lying on the hard pillows, and shone so straight into the face of
the eldest boy, that he stirred a little in his sleep, and half