as not at that period possible. The life of a king and many other
lives were in jeopardy, and the orphans remained at Arnwood, still under
the care of their elderly relation, at the time that our history
commences.

The New Forest, my readers are perhaps aware, was first enclosed by
William the Conqueror as a royal forest for his own amusement, for in
those days most crowned heads were passionately fond of the chase; and
they may also recollect that his successor, William Rufus, met his death
in this forest by the glancing of an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell.
Since that time to the present day it has continued a royal domain. At
the period of which we are writing it had an establishment of verderers
and keepers, paid by the Crown, amounting to some forty or fifty men.
At the commencement of the civil war they remained at their posts, but
soon found, in the disorganised state of the country, that their wages
were no longer to be obtained; and then, when the king had decided upon
raising an army, Beverley, who held a superior office in the forest,
enrolled all the young and athletic men who were employed in the forest,
and marched them away with him to join the king's army. Some few
remained, their age not rendering their services of value, and among
them was an old and attached servant of Beverley's, a man above sixty
years of age, whose name was Jacob Armitage, and who had obtained the
situation through Colonel Beverley's interest. Those who remained in
the forest lived in cottages many miles asunder, and indemnified
themselves for the non-payment of their salaries by killing the deer for
sale and for their own subsistence.

The cottage of Jacob Armitage was situated on the skirts of the New
Forest, about a mile and a half from the mansion of Arnwood; and when
Colonel Beverley went to join the king's troops, feeling how little
security there would be for his wife and children in those troubled
times, he requested the old man, by his attachment to the family, not to
lose sight of Arnwood, but to call there as often as possible to see if
he could be of service to Mrs Beverley. The colonel would have
persuaded Jacob to have altogether taken up his residence at the
mansion; but to this the old man objected. He had been all his life
under the greenwood tree, and could not bear to leave the forest. He
promised the colonel that he would watch over his family, and ever be at
hand when required; and he kept his word.