ed it yourself."

"I shall not answer that question, sir; in the first place, I am not
here to criminate myself; and, in the next, I must know by what
authority you have the right to inquire."

"Young man," replied the other in a severe tone, "if you wish to know my
authority, malapert as you are (at this remark Edward started, yet,
recollecting himself he compressed his lips and stood still), this is my
commission, appointing me the agent of Parliament to take charge and
superintend the New Forest, with power to appoint and dismiss those whom
I please. I presume you must take my word for it, as you cannot read
and write."

Edward stepped up to the table, and very quietly took up the paper and
read it. "You have stated what is correct, sir," said he, laying it
down; "and the date of it is, I perceive, on the 20th of the last month
of December. It is, therefore, but eighteen days old."

"And what inference would you draw from that, young man?" replied the
gentleman, looking up to him with some astonishment.

"Simply this, sir--that Jacob Armitage has been laid up with the
rheumatism for three months, during which time he certainly has not
killed any venison. Now, sir, until the Parliament took the forest into
their hands, it undoubtedly belonged to his majesty, if it does not now;
therefore Jacob Armitage, for whatever slaughter he may have committed,
is, up to the present, only answerable to his sovereign, King Charles."

"It is easy to perceive the school in which you have been brought up,
young man, even if there was not evidence on this paper that your
forefather served under the Cavalier Colonel Beverley, and has brought
you up to his way of thinking."

"Sir, it is a base dog that bites the hand that feeds him," replied
Edward with warmth. "Jacob Armitage, and his father before him, were
retainers in the family of Colonel Beverley; they were indebted to him
for the situation they now hold in the forest; indebted to him for
everything; they revere his name, they uphold the cause for which he
fell, as I _do_."

"Young man, if you do not speak advisedly, at all events you speak
gratefully; neither have I a word of disrespect to offer to the memory
of Colonel Beverley, who was a gallant man, and true to the cause which
he espoused, although it was not a holy one; but in my position, I
cannot, in justice to those whom I serve, give places and emolument to
those who have been, and still are, as I may judge b