off his head.

"But I say," he said, "if you were fighting, as you call it, for your
lawful king, why should the soldiers be after you?"

"Because I am an enemy--a follower of the Stuarts."

"Oh," said Waller, in a puzzled tone, as the lad slowly and painfully
rose and then snatched at something to save himself, for he reeled.
"Here, I say, you are weak," cried Waller, saving him from falling,
"lean on me. The stream is just over there," and he led his feeble
adversary down the slope to the nearest opening where he could lie down
and reach over the bank to drink from the clear water in the most
ancient and natural way--that is, by lowering his lips till they touched
the surface.

The lad drank deeply, and then rose to a sitting position, making no
effort to stand.

"Ah," he said faintly, "I feel better now. There," he went on, "I
suppose you didn't know the soldiers were here?"

Waller shook his head, content to listen.

"They are; and you know all about the trouble--about the Stuarts making
another stand for their rights?"

"Oh, not much," said Waller. "I have read, of course, about the Old
Pretender and the Young Pretender."

"Pretenders!" said the lad bitterly. "Those who fought for their rights
as heirs to the British Crown. They are at rest, but an heir still
lives, and it is his fortunes we follow."

"Oh," said Waller thoughtfully. "Yes, I have heard of him--in France,"
and he looked more curiously in the other's eyes as he asked his next
question, thinking the while of the slight accent in the lad's speech.

"But you have not come from there?"

"Yes," said the lad quietly, and with a bitter tone of sadness in his
words; "we crossed over from Cherbourg--oh, it must be a month ago."

"We?" said Waller inquiringly.

"Yes; I came with my father and four other gentlemen to Lymington."

"And are they here in the forest?"

The lad looked at him wonderingly.

"No," he said; "they were all hunted down like wild beasts--treated as
spies."

"And where are they now?" said Waller eagerly.

"Who knows?" replied the lad sadly. "Lingering in prison, if they have
not already been shot. Quick! Tell me," he continued, catching Waller
by the arm. "My father! Have you heard anything about him?"

"I? No," said Waller. "Oh, surely not shot! But in this quiet country
place at the Manor we hear so little of what is going on. I can't help
being so ignorant about all these things."

"You are all t