dowed with the power of looking into futurity, he knew not
which party would finally prevail. The magnified reports which he had
heard of the King's successes would have made him turn Loyalist, had he
not known that Cromwell, with a victorious army, was hastening from the
North, and that therefore it would be impolitic to offend him. He
thought the best way would be not to interfere; and, secretly cursing
the lady for exposing him to this dilemma, he observed the mountain-air
for once would brace her nerves, and furnish her with an adventure to
talk of as long as she lived. Davies was unwilling to open his doors to
a stranger till he knew if she would pay for her accommodations. Dr.
Beaumont therefore was left to perform the service of knight-errant all
alone.

He arrived on the common where the carriage was stopped in the dusk of
the evening, just at the time when Lady Bellingham's fears had so far
subdued her haughtiness as to change her threats into tears and
intreaties. The Doctor's admonitions soon prevailed on the villagers to
repent their conduct. They were ready to restore the horses, and refrain
from further molestation; but it was now too dark for her to proceed in
safety, and not a creature seemed willing to afford a lodging to one
whom they supposed to be no better than a mistress to Old Noll, the good
King's murderer.

Dr. Beaumont's finances were now in such a state as compelled him to
huswife his hospitality. The money which young De Vallance had insisted
on advancing to supply his probable necessities, had been appropriated
to the actual wants of the King's army, as it marched through
Lancashire; yet the good man's native courtesy still inclined him to
assist the perplexities of the affluent, while his benevolence prompted
him to relieve the distresses of the poor. He accosted Lady Bellingham
with an air of dignified modesty. His means, he said, were scanty, and
his humble dwelling was now the abode of care and affliction, yet he
thought it would afford her comforts superior to passing the night in
her carriage; and he requested, if she condescended to allow him to be
her host, she would overlook the homeliness of her fare in his sincere
wish to obviate the inconveniences which the rude treatment of his
parishioners had brought upon her.

It was not Lady Bellingham's method to look further than to her own
comforts. A man whose air and language bespoke a gentleman, but whose
coarse thread-bare garb ind