ng, with such
other things as they wished to take with them. Robin drove, while Henry
and the other boys took it in turns to ride one at a time, the rest
walking by the side of the clumsy vehicle, which could only proceed at a
foot pace, so that their progress was but slow. They had taken care to
put plenty of rushes in the waggon, so that some of them might sleep
comfortably in it at night, while Robin and the elder lads, as it was
summer-time, and warm, dry weather, could rest under the trees, wrapped
in their shepherd's cloaks. In this manner they proceeded, sometimes
halting at the villages to get a fresh supply of food and water, until
at length they reached their destination, a small farm in a beautiful
and romantic part of Cumberland, close to the borders of Scotland, but
still within the domain of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld, which extended far
and wide. You may be sure it was not long before our hero was again
clasped to the heart of his fond mother, who, however, as before, only
visited him in secret and under cover of the night. She was sometimes
accompanied by Sir Lancelot, who was a kind-hearted man, and had always
been well disposed towards the noble youth whom he delighted to call his
son when they were alone, but at all other times he only noticed him as
one of his shepherds.

Much of Henry's time was spent in solitude, as he watched his flocks
feeding on the mountains, and being of a meditative disposition, he
thought much and deeply of the beautiful works of the Great Creator that
he beheld around him. Though wholly unlettered, though he could neither
read nor write, he possessed a native nobleness of mind that raised him
far above the class to which he seemingly belonged; yet his manners were
plain and simple, nor did the knowledge of his high birth ever lead him
to assume an air of superiority over the peasants with whom he was
associated. In his solitary musings he thought so much about the
wonders of the earth, the sea, and the skies, that he became quite a
natural philosopher; but his chief delight was in the contemplation of
the heavenly bodies, and he would watch the moon in her course, or gaze
for hours on the myriads of stars that shone in the blue vault above
him, until he acquired an ardent taste for the sublime study of
astronomy, in which he indulged to the full at a later period of his
existence.

And so the time passed on, bringing no change to Henry de Clifford, save
the gradual inc