village street, and the rectory of Mr. Vickars was close by. The party
gathered at morning prayers consisted of Mr. Vickars and his wife,
their two sons, Geoffrey and Lionel, and the maid-servants, Ruth and
Alice. The boys, now fourteen and fifteen years old respectively, were
strong-grown and sturdy lads, and their father had long since owned
with a sigh that neither of them was likely to follow his profession
and fill the pulpit at Hedingham Church when he was gone. Nor was this
to be wondered at, for lying as it did at the entrance to the great
castle of the Veres, the street of the little village was constantly
full of armed men, and resounded with the tramp of the horses of
richly-dressed knights and gay ladies.

Here came great politicians, who sought the friendship and support of
the powerful earls of Oxford, nobles and knights, their kinsmen and
allies, gentlemen from the wide-spreading manors of the family, stout
fighting-men who wished to enlist under their banner. At night the
sound of music from the castle told of gay entertainments and festive
dances, while by day parties of knights and ladies with dogs and
falcons sallied out to seek sport over the wide domains. It could
hardly be expected, then, that lads of spirit, brought up in the midst
of sights and sounds like these, should entertain a thought of settling
down to the tranquil life of the church. As long as they could
remember, their minds had been fixed upon being soldiers, and fighting
some day under the banner of the Veres. They had been a good deal in
the castle; for Mr. Vickars had assisted Arthur Golding, the learned
instructor to young Edward Vere, the 17th earl, who was born in 1550,
and had succeeded to the title at the age of twelve, and he had
afterwards been tutor to the earl's cousins, John, Francis, Robert, and
Horace, the sons of Geoffrey, fourth son of the 15th earl. These boys
were born in 1558, 1560, 1562, and 1565, and lived with their mother at