Show flav 1 THE LIONS WHELP A story of cromwell cromnell s time BY AMELIA E BARR BARK author of the bow now of orange ribbon I 1 thou and the other on the th maid of maiden lane etc coper fht 1901 by dodd lf mead ead company all rich rieb s reserved CHAPTER VI vl continued I 1 have only been in london three das days I 1 was ill III at de bici V acl I 1 became unconscious at my father a burial you remember anthony lynn the tanner and carrier janea yes he ile has bought de wick from the ao so called parliament he was very tind kind to me and he I 1 new his place but on my faith I 1 nearly lost my senses when I 1 saw him sitting in my fathers father a chair well then I 1 am now in london and all roads lead from london I 1 shall not longer spoil mv eyes tyes for the fen country but oh jane the melancholy ouse country the black melancholy ouse with its sullen water and muddy banks no wonder men turned traitors in it and jane only leaned close and loser closer to the sad sick girl she un der stood that matilda must complain a little and she was not unwilling to let the dreary meadows of the ouse bear the burden so the short after noon wore aw ay to jane a tender min lat rations without one cross word early in her visit she had yielded to matildaa Mat ildas entreaties had sent home her carriage and promised to remain all night she dismissed delia and herself Iler Self undressed her friend as tender ay as a mother could have done and when the tired head was laid on the pillow she put her arms under it and kissed and drew the happy grateful girl to her heart and said some of those sweet foolish words which alas too often become a forgotten tongue matilda answered them in the same 8 me tender broken patois dear heart sweet heart darling jane go to the little drawer in my toilet table and bring me a picture you will find there it Is in an ivory box jane and nd here Is the key and jane went and found the miniature she had once got a glimpse of and she laid it in matildaa Mat ildas hand and the girl kissed it and said look lok here jane and tell me who it is then jane looked earnestly at the handsome liand some melancholy haughty face at the black hair cut straight across the brows and flowing in curls over the ue laced collar and steel corselet and she lifted her eyes to matildaa Mat ildas but he she did not like to speak matilda smiled rapturously and said it is not impossible jane though 1 I see you think so lie he loves me he has vowed to marry me or to marry no mo one else but but he cannot marry you he will not be allowed half a dozen icings and queens would rise up to pre vent it tor for I 1 am sure I 1 know the face who Is it jane whisper the words to me who Is it dear heart and jane stooped to the face on tho the pillow and whispered prince rupert and as the name tell fell on her ear matilda Mat ildas s face grew heavenly sweet and tender she smiled and sighed and softly echoed jane janes s last word rupert CHAPTER VII vil two love affairs matildaa Mat ildas confession brought on a conversation which lasted many hours the seal of silence having been broken the sick and sorrowful girl eagerly took tool the consolation her confidence procured her she related with an impulsive frankness often with bitter though healing tears the story of her love tor for the gallant royalist leader jane think of my father and mother dead of grief and of my three brothers tr others two slain in battle one wandering I 1 know not where re member that with my fathers death died all my own hopes regarding my lover and when father had been three days in his grave and I 1 lay at point of death anthony lynn came with his parliamentary title to our house and lands I 1 was at his mercy at his charity jane well and it if so many favors he and his have received from your tarn farn lly all he Is worth he owes to your father he was kind and respectful I 1 am very sensible of that then sp al ing with her old per empt s ae sa d suddenly but tor for god a sake let me ask when you heard anything of prince ru perta you know that he was made ad miral of the realist royalist navy but in deed he is said to be nothing el e but a pirate robb ng all ships that he may support the stuart family at the hague he is the bread gread finder of the king as well as his defender so much I 1 knew and Us well done in him the latest news is the drowning of prince maurice that is the of news rupert loved this brother of his so tenderly they were not happy apart poor rupert I 1 that afflict on will I 1 ring him to shoie ind nd then what will the king do tor for he is said now to be in great need of it though prince rupert sent horn hom a rich prize this east dast summer and US further said he resigned I 1 is own share of it to his cousin charles stu art arl atwould be most like him this conversation had many sides and deviations and the night was tar far spent when matilda was willing to sleep and in the morning while they ate breakfast together the sub eject was renewed for sorrow is sel fish and matilda forgot that she had bad never even ailed ed after the welfare of janes jane a family jane returned to her home soon after breakfast and her mother met her with a sm ling face I 1 was go ing to send the coach for you she said for there Is lo 10 be company to night and then she looked at jane so intelligently that the girl under stood at once what was meant Is it she ed blushing brightly yes he has asked for an inter view with your father and I 1 suppose that it is granted for I 1 was told of the matter mother dear will you speak in our favor it if needs be jane but I 1 am of this opinion some one has spoken already do you mean the lord generald 19 7 I 1 wouldn t wonder it if he has said oa k 4 I 1 an with the gallant royalist leader the two or three words that would move your father more than any woman s talk or tears keep your bravery jane f father ther likes women that stand w ut for themselves it was evening when cluny came and he was taken at once to the room in which gen swaffham ham harn w smoking his good night pipe good evening sir he answered to cluny s greeting sit down you have requested speech with me talk out then I 1 am here general to ask for your daughters hand I 1 love her I 1 have enough for our necessities and somewhat for our comfort and we are both willing to take love as cecur ity for our contentment and though the words were such ordinary ones the young man mans s heart throbbed in them and the father felt it gen swaffham ham looked at neville silently for a few moments and then said I 1 will not be unkind to elt ely er you or my daughter but there must be no leap in the dark or in a hurry take five vears to learn how to live together fifty years I 1 waited six years for my wife jacob waited four teen for rachael sir we live not by centuries as jacob did if it would please you to say two years I 1 have said five and verily it shall be five cannot you wait aft and serve for five years ayearst if not your love is but a summer fruit and jane ham Is worthy of something better sir I 1 entreat I 1 am no coward but I 1 cannot bear to think of five years I 1 have said my say there is 18 nothing to add or to take from it then cluny perceived that entreaty would only weaken his cause and he advanced and offered his hand say ing I 1 am much in your debt sir more than I 1 deserve but love must always beg more than his des ert erf and gen swaffham ham s voice trembled perceptibly as he answered you have time and opportunity to win your wa way to my heart then I 1 will give ou a sons son s place go and jane she will ani aou QU I 1 have done tut a kindly and wisely ana cluny bowed and an d went silently to seek hia his betrothed your father says we are to wait five years sweet jane and Us a hard condition I 1 know not how I 1 am to endure it and jane smiled and began to tall over with her lover the hard condi tion and somehow it became an easy and reasonable one they soon saw it through love and hope and WIs dom and so at the beginning of their probation they rejoiced in the end of it I 1 ife soon settled itself to the new conditions of the hams the general in spite of his wife a and daughter daughters s disapproval bought the sandys house near russel square and some of the most precious heir looms of old swaffham ham were brought up lp to london to adorn it mrs swaffham ham hain was well content in lor lordon don social by nature fond of the stir and news of life enjoying even the shadow of her old friends power and splendor and taking the greatest interest in all public events of the time she wh was pleased rather than otherwise at the lord general generals s determination to keep her husband near him nether ne ther m V as jane at all averse to london cluny was in london and matilda was there and most of the girls whom she had known all her life long and it if jane accepted will angly this change of life matilda took her phase of it still more enthuse asti cally she was not long in dincov ering that it was in her power to be virgial mistress of the jevery man sion her youth her beau y and her many sorrows inclined sir thomas jevery s heart to sympathy and this prepossession grew rapidly to devot ed affection she was one morning a string of orient pearls wondering if they could be worn with her new damasse gown when jane entered her dressing room jane swaffham ham she cried with delight ill swear I 1 was just wishing for you stephen Is here will you see him I 1 will not answered jane post lively I 1 will not come to question about him it if he Is discovered do not ask me to put myself in such a strait matilda it Is far better I 1 should be able to say I 1 have not seen him jane I 1 will tell you a piteous tale of our late queen she Is so wretchedly poor and since her son returned to their miserable little court in the louvre so brok broken heart ed atwould make you weep to hear bear ot of her stephen came with sir hugh belward to get some somo money on bel I 1 ward how does sir hugh belward hope to get money on belward 7 he Is pro scribed his younger brother joined the parliament and he left the estate in his care and his brother has turned traitor to him and would give him nothing but permission to ride away as secretly as he came but oh janel janet the poor poor queen and then ma tilda went into some details of the piteous straits and dependencies and insults the widowed woman had been obliged to bear jane listened silently but there were tears in her eyes and when matilda said I 1 have given her the jewel the gracious king sent me by my beloved prince rupert and also what moneys I 1 could get from my uncle jevery jane added I 1 have ten pieces of gold that are altogether my own I 1 will give them to her I 1 will send the gold by a sun sure messenger to day da matilda did not urge her to remain and jane was eager to get away when she reached home her fathel was walking about the parlor and talking in an excited manner to hia wife he showed much discontent and as he walked and talked he rat tied his sword ominously to hia his words to be continued |