son having agreed to
receive him, but begged that he might pay one more visit to Eversden to
bid his friends farewell. He rode over on a good horse that he might
have a longer time to spend there. He found Mistress Alice about to set
off on her favourite walk to the cliffs. As Madam Pauline was engaged
up-stairs, and the Colonel was out in the fields, he did not hesitate to
offer to accompany her, and she did not forbid him. They had just
reached the Downs when they saw three vessels, one of large size and two
others of smaller dimensions, standing in for the land. They watched
them with much interest, Alice wondering what they could be, as ships of
large burden seldom came near that part of the coast, Stephen observed
that he knew something about the matter. "His father had received
notice that morning that the Duke of Argyll, with a large force, had
landed in Scotland, that the Highlands were in revolt, and that the Duke
of Monmouth had sailed from the Texel. There can be little doubt," he
added, "therefore, that the ships we see belong to him, although they
are fewer in number than I should have expected."

"Then is there to be a rebellion in this part of the country?" asked
Alice, in a tone of considerable anxiety. "Will the scenes I have read
of in the time of Cromwell be again enacted?"

"I fear it is the only way by which we can get our rights, my sweet
Alice," answered Stephen. "I would that war could be averted, but
better to have war than to be tyrannically treated, our religious and
civil rights trampled on as they have been for many years past; but, for
my own part, I am ready to draw the sword in defence of our freedom."

"But can our freedom thus be secured?" asked Alice. "All the blood shed
in former years gained nothing, and in the end the king, who has just
died, was more securely seated on the throne than his father had been.
You belong to a peaceable profession, and whatever is done, I entreat
you not to engage personally in warlike undertakings."

"I thought, Mistress Alice, that you were a heroine, and would have been
ready to gird on my sword and bid me go forth and fight in a noble
cause," said Stephen, in a half playful, half serious tone.

"And so I would if I were convinced the cause was noble, right, and
just, with a prospect of success."

"I promise you, Mistress Alice, not to draw sword unless in a righteous
cause," said Stephen. "Will that satisfy you?"

"If the cause is r