at
Uxbridge, and negotiate a reconciliation between the King and his
people, might be able to conclude terms of adjustment satisfactory to
both parties. Maud felt sure that peace would be established at last
when she heard the news, and Bertram asked her in a whisper if Harry
would come home then; but to this question she could only shake her head
and look up at the clouds racing across the stormy February sky, and
think that Harry had probably gone to the Father's home where ambition
and injustice could never mar the peace of the one great family.

She had come to this conclusion, because she thought if he were living
he would surely have tried to see or communicate with his father before
this, in spite of what had happened.

The meeting at Uxbridge took place just as the first spring blossoms
began to whisper that the earth was not the cold, lifeless thing it
looked; that God had not forgotten the seeds in the time of their
darkness, but that out of this He had made them spring forth, and
through this He had made them strong. Thus thinking as she walked
through the fields, Maud sometimes wondered whether these dark times was
England's winter, out of which righteousness and truth would spring, and
be more strong for the struggle they had endured. Of course to her this
meant that the people would return to the King, and be more firm in
their allegiance than ever, and she hoped that the first promise of such
a result had already taken place.

But alas, for her, and the hopes of thousands like her, who had to
endure silently, and witness misery they could not alleviate! the
commission broke up without anything being done, and men were hurried
from their homes to take up the sword, leaving the plough to be guided
by women's hands. Roger and the rest of his companions again left
Hayslope, and Maud went in and out and tried to comfort the women for
their loss.

Master Drury seemed to feel the failure of the Uxbridge commission most
keenly, although he did not say much about it; yet even Mistress Mabel
could not fail to notice the whitening hair and the failing strength of
her brother, and spoke to Maud about it too. She had noted the change
long since, and now she felt sure that secret grief for Harry was
preying upon her guardian's heart, and bowing him down with premature
old age, and yet she dare not mention the name it would have been a
relief for both to utter and to hear spoken.

So the spring passed into summer