"Alas! I dare not as yet. I must not enter the house till
nightfall, or I should bring danger on you all. Are there any
troopers near?"

"Yes, the village is full of the rascals. But what has happened? It
is not true that--" He could not bear to say the rest.

"Too true!" said Edmund, leading his tired horse within the shelter
of the bushes. "It is all over with us!"

"The battle lost!" said Walter, in a stifled tone; and in all the
bitterness of the first disappointment of his youth, he turned away,
overcome by a gush of tears and sobs, stamping as he walked up and
down, partly with the intensity of his grief, partly with shame at
being seen by his brother, in tears.

"Had you set your heart on it so much?" said Edmund, kindly, pleased
to see his young brother so ardent a loyalist. "Poor fellow! But at
least the King was safe when I parted from him. Come, cheer up,
Walter, the right will be uppermost some day or other."

"But, oh, that battle! I had so longed to see old Noll get his
deserts," said Walter, "I made so sure. But how did it happen,
Edmund?"

"I cannot tell you all now, Walter. You must find me some covert
where I can be till night fall. The rebels are hot in pursuit of all
the fugitives. I have ridden from Worcester by byroads day and
night, and I am fairly spent. I must be off to France or Holland as
soon as may be, for my life is not safe a moment here. Cromwell is