sight of this unexpected visitant. Recovering himself, he said, "Good
woman, can you be faithful to a distressed Cavalier?"--"Yes, sir," she
replied, "and I will die sooner than betray you." He was afterwards visited
by Jane, the mother of the Penderells. The old woman kissed his hands, fell
on her knees, and blessed God that he had chosen _her_ sons to preserve, as
she was confident they would, the life of their sovereign.

It had been agreed between the king and Wilmot, that each should make
the best of his way to London, and inquire for the other by the name of
Ashburnham, at the Three Cranes in the Vintry. By conversation with his
guardian, Charles was induced to adopt a different plan, and to seek an
asylum among the Cavaliers in Wales, till a ship could be procured for his
transportation to France. About nine in the evening they left the wood
together for the house of Mr. Wolf, a Catholic recusant at Madeley, not far
from the Severn; but an accidental alarm lengthened their road, and added
to the fatigue of the royal wanderer.[1]

[Footnote 1: The mill at Evelyn was filled with fugitives from the battle:
the miller, espying Charles and his guide, and afraid of a discovery,
called out "rogues;" and they, supposing him an enemy, turned up a miry
lane, running at their utmost speed,--Boscobel, 47. Account from the Pepys
MS. p. 16.]

They reached Madeley at midnight; Wolf was roused from his bed, and the
strangers obtained admission. But their host felt no small alarm for their
safety. Troops were frequently quartered upon him; two companies of militia
actually kept watch in the village and the places of concealment in his
house had been recently discovered. As the approach of daylight[a] made it
equally dangerous to proceed or turn back he secreted them behind the hay
in an adjoining barn, and despatched messengers to examine the passages
of the river. Their report that all the bridges were guarded, and all the
boats secured, compelled the unfortunate prince to abandon his design. On
the return of darkness he placed himself again under the care of his trusty
guide, and with a heavy and misboding heart, retraced his steps towards his
original destination, the house at Boscobel.

At Boscobel he found Colonel Careless, one of those devoted adherents who,
to aid his escape from Worcester, had charged the enemy at the opposite
gate. Careless had often provoked, and as often eluded, the resentment of
the Roundheads; an